You won’t emerge from the Israeli political series The Lesson unscathed, we promise!

Canneseries Season 5 kicked off on Friday 1 March, to the applause of a crowd of enthusiasts, in the grand hall of the Louis Lumière auditorium.

To kick off the festivities with great fanfare, the awards were presented to actress Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria) throughout her young career, and to Gillian Anderson (Sex education) for his large participation in the world of television, during the event’s season 5 opening ceremony.

The judging panel, chaired by Fanny Herrero, presented their tributes to a crowd eager to swallow a maximum of images in a minimum amount of time.

And to launch this international competition which takes place from 1 to 6 April, the festival has chosen the series The lessonan Israeli program from which we came away deeply disturbed.

The Lesson, the political series we’ve been waiting for

Do you remember Between the walls, who won the Palme d’Or in 2008? Well the concept of The lesson it’s more or less the same. A thousand times more violent.

In a high school classroom in Israel, a 43-year-old liberal anti-military teacher (amazing Doron Ben-David) talks to his students. One of them, Lian (the fantastic Maya Landsmann), says that the day before, while going to the pool, she and her girlfriend were sexually harassed by Arab people.

Very quickly, the young woman makes racist remarks, condemned by her teacher, which prompts her class to think more about her remarks.

Except that the professor goes too far, comparing his students to the Nazis in half a word.

Lian then posts, thinking of getting his teacher fired, a video on TikTok, denouncing Amir’s actions. Amir, for his part, goes out of control on the playground when he catches Lian taking pictures with a firearm, loaned by a member of the Israel Defense Forces.

Between the master and the pupil the moral rupture is consummated, and the two will train in an infernal spiral of denunciation that will profoundly change their lives.

we promise you, The lesson it’s one of the programs you don’t exit like you entered. Firstly because it deals with the great internal frictions in Israel, which TV is often reluctant to touch, then because it is not satisfied with creating a hero and an antagonist but shapes ambivalent characters, who evolve between multiple borders that should never be crossed .

Subversive, serious, exciting.

The creator of the lesson talks about her program

It was at the Cannes ferry terminal, where hordes of journalists are typing away on their keyboards, that we met Deakla Kedar, the creator of The lesson.

From the height of 46 years, Deakla Kedar is the author of many books published in Israel. The lesson it is his first TV series.

And it probably won’t be the last. Creepy, charming, serious, The lesson it deserves your full attention, just like its creator.

Madmoizelle: How did it come about The lesson ? How long did it take you to write it?

It’s an interesting question, because actually the idea didn’t come to me like that, like a stroke of genius. For me, a creation always comes from a question I ask myself. Something that annoys me, makes me wonder and haunts me. This is a question to which I have no answer. For The lessonIn fact, I saw on television the story of a student who posted on Facebook a post incriminating her teacher. It was 2014. I couldn’t understand how a high schooler could go so far in her mission to end her teacher’s career. I asked myself: “what would personally motivate me to pursue a case against a professor”. For me, it had to touch on something offensive from an intimate point of view. You know, I was a bad student, I was always in conflict with my teachers, I was always called to the principal’s office. I wanted to get teachers fired, but I never believed it could actually happen. I said to myself: “if you are 17 and you fire a teacher for his different opinions than yours, you would probably feel very bad, very guilty”. I found no questions for my answers that concerned the two protagonists of the case. Many other similar stories have happened in Israel, even though it is legal for a professor to express his political and social views. And in this case there are many social issues that come into play, beyond the case between the teacher and her pupil. There is the question of time, gender of people, situations. I thought it was a good story to write, because it interests me deeply.

To miss : In the The lesson, you address the issues of hatred that a people has for another people, you also talk about politics, tolerance, gross phobia, etc. There are very powerful and violent scenes, such as the one of the student posing for a photo with a weapon, with the approval of a member of the Israel Defense Forces, and this teacher who loses the pedals and shouts everyone, comparing members tell the military to war criminals. Lots of very sensitive topics. How was your program received in Israel?

It was a real storm, I wasn’t ready for that. I don’t say it like that. From the moment I pitched this idea to the manufacturers when the program was released, I’ve had plenty of time to think about this idea, understand its mechanics and potential consequences. When I said, “it’s going to be about a conflict between a teacher and a student that goes a long, long, long way,” everyone wanted to see this series. Only, when I pointed out that the conflict was about Arabs and Israelis at school, everyone seemed disappointed. So I thought no one would want to watch this series. Because this series does not allow you to relax after a hard day’s work. When I finish work, I want to watch Too Hot to Handle or Love is Blind, but there is still a more serious and weighty subject. So I wasn’t prepared for the fact that a lot of people would watch the show and it would have a real impact in my country, at least for a non-action drama series. The reactions were very emotional, not only for the left and right, but also for teachers, students, children of divorced parents, etc. Because our show is about many different and intense things.

Madmoizelle: It’s hard to find information about yourself in English on the Internet. Most of the sites that broadcast your activity are written in Hebrew. Tell us about your background.

In fact, I have written several books in Israel. But The lesson it’s my first TV series. I am therefore primarily an author. This is the first show I create from A to Z.

To miss : The lesson it is therefore your first series. What was the biggest challenge you encountered while writing your program?

What was difficult was trying to put myself in the shoes of each of my characters. Even if I don’t identify with what the protagonists are saying, I still have to put myself in a position where I will understand their problems. Even when I disagree with Lean, for example, making very serious and hateful comments, I have to find a place in myself where I understand why she said what she said. It is for example because she feels insulted because her teacher called her a Nazi. I’m not talking about ideas, opinions here, but about emotions. And it’s not easy. As for Amir, I’ve always asked myself: “but why doesn’t he temper things? Why is he participating in this escalation? I had to understand that too. All the ambiguity of this series was that of not having a protagonist and an antagonist but simply two plural people, entangled in their convictions, who must try to understand each other but not understand each other.

Whatever the case, Deakla Kedar may only be in her very first series, but given the outcome, she is predicted to have a thriving future in the world of television, so often hesitant to tackle subjects that scare the world, so fearful of feeding. monstrous characters with some humanity.

No one was able to say a word as they walked out of the screening The lessonbecause it’s one of those programs that blows away all our preconceptions in less time than it takes to tell it.

And for this, The lesson it remains one of the most impressive series we’ve seen in a long time.

Featured photo credit: The Lecture via Canneseries