“You know, a teacher is allowed to call a pupil.”
“Yes,” the kindergartener replies.
In addition to calling her student on the telephone, the female protagonist teacher also bathes him during school hours, tucks him in during nap time, kisses him on his cheek.
“The Kindergarten Teacher,” “Haganenet” in Hebrew, is a movie featuring the lure of transgression. The teacher, played by Sarit Larry, plays out her life with her husband, children, career, and social life as it becomes intertwined with the developing precocity of a young student whose poetry moves and inspires her, played by Avi Schnaidman.
In the beginning of the movie Larry plagiarizes the pupil’s poems, passing them off as her own work during a poetry workshop. Her character’s sole motive appears to be a tireless effort to have her curiosity satisfied that others also believe that her pupil’s poetry is mature beyond its years and profound.
Larry is otherwise a conservative woman, reserved, and seeming to lack the passionate fire for life seen in other characters like her son, her son’s wild friends, and her actively loving husband – she dances at a party with her hands below her waist.
Yes, Larry’s passion seems to ignite only in the hopes of satisfying her curiosity of whether others will recognize Schnaidman’s talet. A climax occurs when Larry chastises Schnaidman’s father for the student not having any support from the world for his poetry. She divulges that the student’s nanny has been plagiarizing his work, but Larry does not divulge that she has done this herself.
Larry’s curiosity for whether others believe her pupil is a prodigy is perhaps satisfied when her workshop teacher asks her to reach “her” poetry at a reading. “Wow,” she says, the first English word spoken in the movie. The absence of subtitle permits the viewer to see her expression and body movement in full force as she meets her guilt head-on.
As her curiosity is satisfied, the movie’s drama spirals out of control.
The film is fraught with long shots that feature excellent acting of all cast, including shots of a full dinner, poetry recited, and songs sung. The kindergarten class is depicted beautifully, each child with a distinct personality and demeanor.
Overall, the movie’s protagonists achieve a new leaf in life. The lure of transgression motivates and enraptures the female protagonist, Larry. And its consequences may turn a new leaf for the male protagonist, Schnaidman, as the movie ends with his first smile.