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France · 2002
1h 44m
Director Nicolas Philibert
Starring Georges Lopez
Genre Documentary
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In this heartwarming documentary set in rural France, patient and passionate school teacher Georges Lopez teaches 12 children, between the ages of 4 and 11, in one classroom. As the school year goes on, we watch Lopez tend to the specific needs of each child, preparing them all for the next step in their lives.
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
The interest of To Be and to Have, though, is not sociological: it is not really about the French educational system, rural life or even the way children learn. It is, rather, the portrait of an artist, a man whose work combines discipline and inspiration and unfolds mysteriously and imperceptibly.
A deeply satisfying aesthetic and pedagogic experience--though Americans may find themselves wondering how such terrific children can grow into such irritating adults.
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
Exhibiting the same sort of patience as his sensible hero, Philibert has created an extraordinarily humane portrait of a partnership between one adult and his very fortunate charges.
Simple but deeply touching documentary.
Any negative stereotypes viewers might harbor about education in rural communities are sent packing by this magnificently lensed and cumulatively touching account from documaker Nicolas Philibert.
New York Post by Megan Lehmann
One of the year's most engaging films.
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Full of observed life, the movie is also a bit of a vacuum, and once we register our admiration for Lopez, we can hardly help contemplating the cold equations of the students' futures, their uneducated families, and the rapturously desolate farmland around them.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Peter Rainer
The emotional honesty of this movie rescues it from sentimentality. To Be and to Have is about more than a dedicated teacher and his pupils; it’s about how difficult and exhilarating it is to grow into an adult.
The New Republic by Stanley Kauffmann
"You'll have to be patient." Philibert said, "That's the point." This is the film's success: its patience, which in a way mirrors the teacher's.
Nothing momentous happens here, but Philibert has a magical sense of how to find the simple poetry lurking in the universal routine of being a kid. A lot of the film's lyricism is extracurricular.
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