A Montreal middle school class is shaken by the death of their well-liked teacher. Bachir Lazhar, a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, offers the school his services as a substitute teacher and is quickly hired. As he helps the children heal, he also learns to accept his own painful past.

Philippe Falardeau presents a moving, heartrending story in which all the characters share, in different ways, the loss of someone they love. Underlying this grief are sensations of impotence, of fear, of abandon. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.