Vincent and his students. Courtesy of Films Boutique
Makarenko, a public school in the Parisian suburb of Ivry-sur-Seine, is the subject of Elementary, the latest vérité study from renowned French documentarian Claire Simon. While the film is replete with tender and surprising observations on today’s young people, it also treads similar ground for Simon. Récréations, her breakthrough documentary feature from 1992, captured the schoolyard antics of kindergarteners. With 2018’s Young Solitude, she set her sights on a public high school—also located in Ivry—and filmed intimate interviews with 16- to 18-year-old teenagers.
While those previous portraits of academic youth are interested in the pursuit of establishing personhood within the confines of an institution, Elementary investigates how teachers and the experience of receiving an education prepare students for their future participation in broader society. Amid math lessons, DIY science projects, and recess relay races, these students are guided by their teachers to collaborate and communicate with respect for their thoughts and those of others. One specific scene, in which a classroom erupts into philosophical religious debate, is striking not only for the unusually divisive subject being discussed, but for the maturity these young people employ when elaborating their viewpoints and, at times, even gently refuting those of their peers. (One sweet girl fearfully labels the entire debate as “haram,” but continues following along nonetheless.)
Naturally, Elementary is far less couched in imminent fear for the future of these children than one might expect from a film produced stateside. It’s clear that Simon has genuine faith in the French constitutional value of the republic, which boasts the motto “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” While watching Elementary, it’s impossible not to be cognizant of the U.S.’s increasingly inhospitable approach to public education, a system that has been financially gutted and, more recently, forced to adhere to conservative “anti-DEI” doctrine.
I sat down with Simon a week before Elementary’s U.S. premiere on March 16 at the Queens-based Museum of the Moving Image. Elementary travels next to CPH:DOX. Joining me via Zoom from Paris, Simon sheds insight on her recurring interest in public schools, this film’s relationship to a Frederick Wiseman documentary, and her forthcoming project involving the work of French author Annie Ernaux. This conversation has been edited.
DOCUMENTARY: It’s been about 30 years since you made Récréations, which captures a kindergarten schoolyard. What changes have you noticed among young students between then and now?
CLAIRE SIMON: It’s very different because it’s not the same kind of school. The first school was also public, but it was from three to six years old. This elementary school is from six to 11. Kindergarten is a school where children are free to learn or not learn. Of course they do things, but they don’t really have to learn how to read or count.
Elementary is a serious school. In the two first years, they can have between 12 and 16 pupils in a class and then up to 30. The first two years have fewer children because it’s called “the network of priority education.”
I wanted to do a film in the suburbs. About 90% of the students are the children of immigrants. The school is normal, except it’s in a special neighborhood. I thought that was very strong—the fact that once they enter the school, they are in a republican shelter. But it’s in the French, not the U.S., sense of the word [laughs]. The republic is the idea of equality, citizenship, and the fact that all the children there are meant to grow up and become French citizens. It’s very strong in French schools, even in kindergarten.
The biggest difference was probably the way that they were a bit focused on the camera during the first two or three days, which didn’t happen when I did this 30 years ago. Another thing was the older children’s relationship to social networks. They publish on TikTok and everything. But I never saw a mobile phone in school and the teachers don’t use laptops for everything. It’s only one laptop per class. Sometimes they show a little video about history or something like that in class, but it’s not a strong interest of the school.
D: While watching this, I was definitely thinking about how this French school differs from the American education system. I was reminded of Fred Wiseman’s high school films, specifically High School II (1994). You’ve also made Young Solitude, which examines eleventh-grade students at a high school in the same Parisian suburb. Did you revisit his films or yours during the making of Elementary?
CS: I actually saw High School II afterward and I thought it was a cousin of my film. I thought the children in that school were very clever and interesting. It was so funny to see the way that little boy was always going into discussions about the bad things he did. I felt it was the same in the school I filmed! It’s so funny how close it is, but the big difference is that High School II was a film about a sort of experimental school. Here, we have an experimental school in spirit, but it is absolutely a normal school. It’s just that the director of the school is amazing and the team is completely together. They do the most they can for these children who don’t have easy access to culture and might have a difficult life at home. They want the children to be able to talk, to think, to defend their point of view, and at the very least to have an idea and be able to discuss it amongst themselves. That is very beautiful.
D: Something I liked about your approach is that you filmed during the final months of one school year and the very beginning of another. Were there any memorable scenes you captured that had to get cut in the edit?
CS: There was a scene that I will put in the bonus features, but it’s not extraordinary. It’s just that little girl who in the discussion about religion says, “Oh, this is haram, we can’t talk about this.” She’s so funny. In the courtyard, she was braiding her friend’s hair and there were two boys with them. Suddenly, the boy—the one who says he does 14 prayers a day—came around looking very sad. She said, “What’s going on?” He said, “I wanted to give a flower to Émilie and she threw it on the ground.” One of the boys says, “Oh if she acts like that, you must leave her!” The other says, “But he’s trying to be loved!” But this girl looked at him and said, “Look, it’s not our age to fall in love. We’re too young, we can’t do that.” It was so funny, but unfortunately, the sound was very difficult in that scene, so we couldn’t include it. I regret that.
D: It’s funny because that scene feels in conversation with that one song they sing, “Dommage” by Bigflo, which includes a line about regretting not approaching a woman you might love. Speaking of the music, I also adore the kids singing the Rihanna song “Diamonds,” it’s so sweet and unexpected. Why do you think singing and music is so foundational at this stage of educational development?
CS: I think singing is wonderful when you sing all together. It’s a way to be collective and express very strong emotions, which is very important. You can see that they are not very good at Schubert when they have instruments [laughs]. Everyone asks how a famous private school could come to this public school, but it’s a contract made between Parisian schools and suburban schools. In fact, it helped the children in the school I filmed to have two hours of music class every week and have an instrument they could take home. Three of them have now decided that they will go to a conservatory after elementary school. In France, we have a conservatory for music in each city. They will go two, three times a week, or something like that. It opens their mind and their perspective.
Of course, you can also see that there is a class struggle between the children of the conservatory that visit the school we are in. As a filmmaker, it was very interesting to have another group come into the school and give you a different way of looking at the place you’re shooting. After a while, you don’t see differences, you just see individuals. When that school came, it was very different.
D: I also think it’s great when you follow the students out of the school and into the city. What felt important about embarking on a boat tour around Paris with them?
CS: I thought it was really funny that they would go to Paris because the school is one kilometer from the city. They went on this boat and they didn’t know anything about the monuments. The real fun thing for them was going under the bridges and shouting. Except, seeing the Eiffel Tower was something special for them.
In some schools, they are scared to let the children visit museums or other places, but this school’s director says all the time, “Please, take your kids outside and show them life.” It’s wonderful.
D: The film constantly emphasizes this difference between teaching and educating. Is there a moment for you, in particular, that distills this more than any other?
CS: I hope all the scenes are a bit like this. Even when the children are playing games, they are so calm and interested in learning, which was a big surprise for me. There is this idea on social media and the news that these kids are supposed to be terrible, violent, and unable to be in class. It was just the contrary.
D: While making this project, were there any biases of your own that you were surprised to learn and unravel?
CS: All the time. That’s the point of documentary—you’re always surprised. The silence in the classroom, the concentration, the will to do well, the fact that they would play checkers. What also surprised me was the idea of collectivity everywhere: in discussion, in doing everything together. That’s why it would have been stupid for me to focus on just one teacher or classroom, which I didn’t even think of doing. You can also see when they have the carnival going on that everyone is watching the children. It shows that it’s a community; the school sort of cements the city. You couldn’t have a city without a school.
D: Did you take any effort to document parents’ involvement in the school, or was that never really of interest?
CS: It was not my interest, but in fact, the parents are very committed to the school. Even if some of the mothers are very poor, they bake cakes to sell to raise money for the school. There are some families where there is violence, but these immigrant parents want their children to go to school and climb up in society. They know this is the only solution, so they are very respectful toward the teachers and the school and want to be involved in everything. For example, the teacher Sophie often takes her class to visit something in Paris, and she always finds a mother or two to come with her and chaperone the children. It is a really strong community, which is very beautiful. I knew nothing about the school. Everything that I filmed was a surprise. Contrary to Récréations, my idea was to film the relationship between adults and children, but for the point of view to be of the children.
D: It’s great that the eye line stays at their level. I work with kids, so I’m literally always looking down at them and thinking about the differences between their generation and mine. Sitting with these kids at that level gave me a lot more empathy.
CS: Yes, that was my aim.
D: Last year, you hosted a screening of the film for the teachers. Have you hosted a screening for the students and their families?
CS: In Cannes, we were with the teachers and the school director. When we came back, the cinema of Ivry, in the city the school is in, showed the film to the children in two morning screenings. Then, at night, the parents came. It was very nice.
D: Did you get any specific reactions from any of the students or their parents?
CS: They were so happy and proud. Sometimes they said, “Were you really in the school?” Of course I was! They didn’t even remember. But then they were counting how much time they were in the film and they were really proud. The parents were all crying, they were very happy. Also the teachers came with me, or even went by themselves, to present the film in cinemas and festivals. I’ve asked MoMI if they could have one of the teachers, Sophie, come, but I don’t know. She’s wonderful. We were together in Switzerland last week because the film was released there. I remember the Swiss distributor was a bit pissed off that I wanted to come with two teachers. Then he realized they were such wonderful, interesting people.
D: What are you working on that’s keeping you from New York?
CS: I’m finishing a film I was commissioned to do for TV about Annie Ernaux, the novelist. Do you know her?
D: Oh, yes. She’s a favorite of mine.
CS: She’s not in the film. I went to different high schools in France to the classes where she is studied by young students. It’s about what they think and how they can identify with the stories she’s telling. They talk together outside of the classroom, also. It was great to shoot. They are wonderful, especially the girls. I really loved them. I think it’s impossible to release a film about a writer, but it’s also a film about French youth. I also went to the colonies, like Guiana. It was very interesting.
Natalia Keogan is a critic and journalist based in NYC. Her bylines include Filmmaker Magazine, A.V. Club, Reverse Shot, and Paste, amongst others.