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Special focus:
To Be and to Have
Etre et avoir
de/by Nicolas Philibert
France - 2002 - Documentaire/Documentary - 104 mn - V.O sous-titrée anglais/French with English subtitles
Réalisateur/Director: Nicolas Philibert
Avec/With: Le maître d'école Georges Lopez et ses élèves
Scén/Script: Nicolas Philibert
Photography/Cinematography: Katel Djian, Laurent Didier
Mus.: Philippe Hersant
Prod.: Gilles Sandoz
Société Prod./Prod.co: Maïa Films
Coprod.: Les Films d'ici, Arte France Cinéma
Ventes à l'étranger /World sales: Les Films du Losange
Prix/Awards: Film selectionné au Festival de Cannes 2002 ; Césars 2003, nominé dans la catégorie Meilleur Film de l'Année, Meilleur Réalisateur (Nicolas Philibert), et Meilleur Montage ; Prix Louis-Delluc 2002 ; European Film Awards 2002 : Prix Arte du Meilleur Documentaire/2002 Cannes Film Festival Selection; 2003 French César Awards : Nominated for: Film of the Year, Best Director (Nicolas Philibert), Best Editing; 2002 European Film Awards, 'Arte' Prize for Best Documentary.
 Very few documentaries are released in cinemas, even fewer achieve substantial financial success. Occasionally, however, timely subject matter and masterful filmmaking can captivate critics and audiences, and achieve the impossible. In 2002, such a breakthrough occurred with this astonishing film in France. To Be and To Have earned the equivalent of over 1.3 million admissions and was the unqualified cinematic sensation of the year.
Documentarian Nicolas Philibert treats his subjects with great respect. He has a remarkable genius for establishing authentic exchanges with people of diverse abilities and experience. Here, he looks at a tiny rural single-class school in which children from kindergarten through the primary grades struggle together in the pursuit closest to the filmmaker's heart: the learning process.
 We're invited to re-experience what it's like to trace letters for the first time, put feelings into words, discover you can keep counting forever. The small triumphs and frustrations these children experience are arguably more affecting than a thousand life-and-death battles between adults.
Philibert chose the school from among 300, intrigued by the eclecticism of its 13 students. The scope of their education is broad in a world stocked with tractors and photocopiers, fireplaces and computers. The film is a series of luminous images of a motley collection of students at different stages of progress, each a wonder and a pleasure to watch.
The teacher, Georges Lopez, ensures that the children's education leaps off the page and into the world of sports, nature, art and everyday technology. As this traditional, quietly philosophical and extraordinarily patient man nears retirement, the richness of his life experience is one of the rocks on which his charges' education rests. The film is as much the portrait of an artist, a man whose work combines discipline and inspiration and unfolds mysteriously and imperceptibly.
 Even the most hardened of viewers could fail to be moved by To Be And To Have, which has received the unprecedented honour of being the first documentary nominated for Best Film at the Cesar Awards. A major highlight of the festival, it should not be missed.
Il existe encore un peu partout en France ce qu'on appelle des classes uniques. Elles regroupent autour d'un seul maître d'école tous les enfants d'un même village, des plus petits aux grands du CM2. Certains enseignants ont choisi ce destin. D'autres ont atterri là par hasard.
Dans un petit village d'Auvergne, Georges Lopez s'occupe d'une classe d'une douzaine d'enfants de 3 à 12 ans...
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French Director, Actor, Editor, Screen Writer
Nicolas Philibert was born 1951. He started his artistic career at the age of 27 as a co-director of La Voix de son Maître with Gérard Mordillat in 1978. He continued working with Gérard Mordillat, shooting three films for television in 1979 under the title Patrons/Télévision. He made several short films such as La Face Nord du Camembert (1985), Le Come-Back du Baquet (1988). But he was especially attracted to documentaries.
He directed the following documentaries for cinema: La Ville Louvre (Louvre City, 1990), showing the night activity of the famous museum, Le Pays des Sourds (Land of the Deaf, 1992), describing the culture and everyday life of deaf people, Un Animal, des Animaux (1994), La Moindre des Choses (Every Little Thing, 1996), Qui Sait ? (1998) and To Be and to Have (2002), in which he immersed his camera into the world of teaching to a single class.
Nicolas Philibert's motivation is to shed a different light on various aspects of contemporary society.
This film was an overwhelming success in France (more than a million viewers). It joined the very restricted club of 'millionnaire' documentaries along with Microcosmos (3 million viewers) and The Silent World by Louis Malle and Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1956 (4 million viewers). |
Nicolas Philibert
Réalisateur, Acteur, Monteur, Scénariste français
Nicolas Philibert est né en 1951. Il embrasse sa carrière artistique dès ses 27 ans lorsqu'il co-réalise avec Gérard Mordillat La Voix de son maître en 1978. Comme réalisateur pour la télévision, il est l'auteur, avec Gérard Mordillat, de trois opus regroupés sous le titre Patrons/télévision (1979).
Mais c'est la réalisation qui attire définitivement Nicolas Philibert, plus particulièrement la réalisation de documentaires. Comme réalisateur de courts métrages, il a notamment tourné La Face nord du camembert (1985), Le Come-back du baquet (1988). Comme documentariste, il a réalisé pour le grand écran : La Ville Louvre (1990), qui retrace l'activité nocturne du célèbre musée, Le Pays des sourds (1992), qui décrit la culture et le quotidien des personnes atteintes de surdité totale, Un animal, des animaux (1994), La Moindre des choses (1996), Qui sait ? (1998) et Etre et avoir en 2002, où il plonge sa caméra dans l'univers d'une classe communale unique.
Nicolas Philibert est marqué par le désir d'apporter un autre regard sur les éléments contemporains de notre société.
Le film a obtenu en France un grand succès d'audience (plus d'un million d'entrées). Il rejoint ainsi Microcosmos (3 millions d'entrées) ou Le Monde du silence de Louis Malle et Jacques-Yves Cousteau en 1956 (4 millions d'entrées) dans le club très restreint des documentaires ''millionnaires''. |
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