Laurent Cantet, an eminent director who made penetrating films about the prickly undersides of French life and society, died on April 25 in Paris. His screenwriter and editor, Robin Campillo, said he died of cancer in a hospital. That ambiguity infuses the film with a rare tension, as a hapless language teacher struggles with his largely immigrant students, trying (with difficulty) to gain their acceptance of the strict rules of the French language, and French identity. In this frank chronicle of classroom life, the students, many of them from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia — bright, sometimes provocative — have the upper hand. Reviewing “The Class” in The New York Times, Manohla Dargis called it “artful, intelligent” and “urgently necessary.”

---

Persons: Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo, Cantet’s, Palme, Oscar, Manohla Dargis, “ Organizations: Murs, Cannes Film, The New York Times Locations: Paris, Africa, Caribbean, Asia, The