To Be and to Have

To Be and to Have (Être et avoir, 2002) is Nicolas Philibert's French documentary you can watch online on iFILM. The title names the two auxiliary verbs every French child learns first — and the film is about exactly that kind of beginning.

For one school year the camera sits inside a one-room schoolhouse in rural Auvergne, where pupils aged four to twelve share a single class. Their teacher, Georges Lopez, handles all of them at once, coaxing the little ones through letters and sums, settling squabbles, preparing the oldest for the move to secondary school. There is no narration and nothing staged, just faces and the unhurried pace of village life.

It became one of the most successful documentaries ever released in France and traveled festivals around the world. Watching ordinary lessons turns out to be quietly gripping, and it lands hardest if you care about childhood or what teaching actually demands. Stream To Be and to Have (2002) online on iFILM.