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Classmates

This solid, if not super original, slice of high school life in gritty Euro-environs looks to be a change of tack for director Umberto Riccioni Carteni. Much of his back catalogue appears to be on the frothy end of the spectrum, and oddly, Classmates is listed as a 'Drama, Comedy' in the festival programme. It's not all that heavy but it's a stretch to call it a comedy. It starts with English teacher, credited as Professoressa (Anna Ferzetti) arriving at her new school in a rough-ish area of north-east Rome called Rebibbia.

The final year students of this class are generally downheartened nihilists, all carrying problems related to poverty, drugs or family. A more difficult start might have been expected for the Prof but most of her students respond well to her, due to a policy of treating them like humans, not the garbage they (and other teachers) believe they are.

A familiar trope of students shouting at each other, insulting and threatening, soon shows itself to be part of a more complex structure, involving elements of warmth and solidarity. There's a nice scene where one of the loose units in class, Daniele (Morgan Sebastian Wahr) defends Sofia (Zoe Massenti) from an aggressive ex-boyfriend.

The two mentioned above are part of a stellar group of young actors that make up the main classmates, including: Flavietto (Lorenzo Bagalà), Alessandra (Sara Silvestro), Francesco (Fabio Bizzarro), Faso (Paterne Sassaroli), and Margherita (Anita Serafina). They're mostly inexperienced but all put in great, naturalistic shifts, offset well by the more experienced Ferzetti.

Classmates (or Domani Interrogo) is based on a book by writer/translator/teacher, Gaja Cenciarelli, and this informs some of the narrative choices within. For example, the conceit of having a to-camera narration from many of the leading players was a novel idea (it almost felt like a particularly affecting music video in these moments). It may not be the most challenging or gut-wrenching watch but it's definitely a sweetly, youth-affirming way to spend ninety minutes.

Classmates is screening as part of this year's Italian Film Festival, with usual legends Luna and Palace cinemas hosting.

See also:

This is similar to Laurent Cantet's excellent The Class (Entre les Murs) (2008), though not quite as confronting. Another brilliant film about the teacher/student relationship is The Teachers' Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer) (2023), directed by Ilker Çatak.

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