The Teacher's Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer) (2023)

I love movies about school - school is such a perfect hotbed of issues - and this German film is a ripper with Leonie Benesch perfect as the fresh-faced and idealistic teacher who sees all her hard work creating a harmonious classroom environment undone when speculation runs rife through the school campus that one of their own is a thief.

★★★★☆

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The White Ribbon (2009)

In this, another grim Michael Haneke movie, German village folk are besieged by strange, er, accidents, and while it is an intriguing mystery with a fairly satisfying conclusion, it is also quite disturbing and bleak with its main character providing a bleak monotone voiceover narration while the bleak story unhurriedly unfolds in bleak (but often stunning) black and white photography.

★★★☆☆

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