Best movies like Monsieur Lazhar

Similar in 88%

Saint Ralph (2004)

Plot Summary:

This Canadian made comedy/drama, set in Hamilton, Ontario in 1954, is a sweet and - at times - goofy story that becomes increasingly poignant as the minutes tick by. It's the fictional tale of a wayward 9th grader, Ralph (Adam Butcher), who is secretly living on his own while his widowed, hospitalized mother remains immersed in a coma. Frequently in trouble with Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent), the principal of his all-boys, Catholic school, Ralph is considered something of a joke among peers until he decides to pull off a miracle that could save his mother, i.e., winning the Boston Marathon. Coached by a younger priest and former runner, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), whose cynicism has been lifted by the boy's pure hope, Ralph applies himself to his unlikely mission, fending off naysayers and getting help along a very challenging path from sundry allies and friends.

Similar in 76%

Noi the Albino (2003)

Plot Summary:

17 year old Noi drifts through life on a remote fjord in Iceland. In winter, the fjord is cut off from the outside world, surrounded by ominous mountains and buried under a shroud of snow. Noi dreams of escaping from this white-walled prison with Iris, a city girl who works in a local gas staion. But his clumsy attempts at escape spiral out of control.

Similar in 84%

Wadjda (2012)

Plot Summary:

Wadjda is a 10-year-old girl living in a suburb of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Although she lives in a conservative world, Wadjda is fun loving, entrepreneurial and always pushing the boundaries of what she can get away with. After a fight with her friend Abdullah, a neighborhood boy she shouldn't be playing with, Wadjda sees a beautiful green bicycle for sale. She wants the bicycle desperately so that she can beat Abdullah in a race. But Wadjda's mother won't allow it, fearing repercussions from a society that sees bicycles as dangerous to a girl's virtue. So Wadjda decides to try and raise the money herself.

Similar in 78%

It's Not Me, I Swear! (2008)

Plot Summary:

Léon is ten years old, has lots of problems and an overly fertile imagination. Of course, there is mom and dad who are always fighting, and those annoying neighbors who get to spend the summer at the beach. And then, there's Léa, the exasperating girl who's always right about everything. In the summer of '68, when mom decides to leave everything behind to start a new life in Greece, Léon is prepared to do anything to kill the pain. Destroy the neighbors' house, become a professional liar and even, why not, fall in love with Léa. Together, they will overcome the pain of growing up when you feel abandoned.

Similar in 89%

Macondo (2014)

Plot Summary:

A drama centered on an 11-year-old Chechnyan refugee living in Vienna whose life is thrown into disarray when a friend of his deceased father materializes.

Similar in 90%

Peppermint Soda (1977)

Plot Summary:

In the fall of 1963, Anne is becoming a teenager. She lives in Paris with her mother and her older sister, Frédérique. They're just back from summer at the beach with their father. School starts. A turbulent year awaits them both.

Similar in 89%

Cookie (2013)

Plot Summary:

Adeline's Chinese housekeeper suddenly disappears, leaving behind a little boy who doesn't speak a word of French. Helped by her sister, she takes care of the child and proceeds to locate the mother.

Similar in 83%

Small Change (1976)

Plot Summary:

Various experiences of childhood are seen in several sequences that take place in the small town of Thiers, France. Vignettes include a boy's awakening interest in girls, couples double-dating at the movies, brothers giving their friend a haircut, a boy dealing with an abusive home life, a baby and a cat sitting by an open window, a child telling a dirty joke, and a boy who develops a crush on his friend's mother.

Similar in 89%

Once in a Lifetime (2014)

Plot Summary:

Based on a true story. In Léon Blum high school in Créteil (France), a history teacher decides to have her weakest 10th grade class take a national history competition. This will change them.

Similar in 79%

Educating Rita (1983)

Plot Summary:

Rita, a 26 year old Scouse hairdresser with a sharp wit, is married to her childhood sweetheart, the feckless Denny. He wants a baby, she doesn't. She wants to discover herself, so she joins the Open University. Dr. Frank Bryant Is a disillusioned university professor of literature. His marriage has failed, his girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he can't get through the day without downing a bottle or two of whisky. He refers to himself as an appalling teacher of appalling students. What Frank needs is a challenge ... along comes Rita. In this hilarious and often moving drama, the story tells how two people find a new lease of life through each other.

Similar in 89%

Nobody Knows (2004)

Plot Summary:

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

Similar in 84%

It All Starts Today (1999)

Plot Summary:

Set in a forlorn mining town near Valencienne in the north of France, the story is about one man's struggle to bring life to his once prosperous village and its inhabitants. Philippe Torreton, who won a César for Best Actor with his title role in Capitaine Conan, plays Daniel, the head teacher of a nursery school in a town demoralized by unemployment. Daniel is determined against all odds to bring life to the community. When a parent who has come to pick up her children collapses at the school grounds due to alcohol abuse, and social services turns a deaf ear to all pleas for help, Daniel decides to take the law into his own hands. Despite resistance from the townspeople, in the long run his efforts are not fruitless.

Similar in 86%

Monsieur Ibrahim (2003)

Plot Summary:

Monsieur Ibrahim is a story about a young Jewish boy in Paris who meets an old Muslim Turkish grocery store owner. The film touches the themes of friendship and love as the old man is a father figure to the boy as he teaches him of the Koran. The film is based on a book of the popular book by the French author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt.

Similar in 83%

Whole New Thing (2005)

Plot Summary:

Socially isolated by his parents (Rebecca Jenkins, Robert Joy), an androgynous teen (Aaron Webber) enrolls in high school and develops a crush on his male teacher (Daniel MacIvor).

Similar in 88%

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Plot Summary:

Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980's.

Similar in 87%

Little Red Flowers (2006)

Plot Summary:

Liang is a four-year-old little rebel, possessed of a pair of luminous eyes and a precociously indomitable will. His father deposits him at a well-appointed residential kindergarten in post-1949 Beijing, since his parents are often away. Life at the kindergarten appears rich and colourful, made up of a variety of cheerfully sunny rituals and games meant to train these children to be good members of society.

Similar in 86%

You're My Hero (2003)

Plot Summary:

Thirteen-year-old Ramon is on the verge of many adolescent discoveries -- and the confusion that goes along with them. Shy and awkward, he's moved from town to town throughout his childhood and believes that life is about winning and losing. But he soon learns it's all about survival. Like Ramon, Spain is in transition (President Francisco Franco is about to die); it's a time of social upheaval marked by change, illusion and struggle.

Similar in 81%

Rocket Science (2007)

Plot Summary:

Hal, a 15-year-old high-school student with a minor yet socially alienating (and painful) disability: he stutters uncontrollably. Determined to work through the problem, Hal opts for an extreme route he joins the school debating team, which sends him on a headfirst plunge into breakneck speech competitions and offers a much-needed boost toward correcting the problem.

Similar in 79%

Renaissance Man (1994)

Plot Summary:

Danny DeVito plays an advertising man who is slowly sliding downhill. When he is fired from his job in Detroit, he signs up for unemployment. One day they find him a job; Teaching thinking skills to Army recruits. He arrives on base to find that there is no structure set up for the class.

Similar in 79%

Terri (2011)

Plot Summary:

Terri, a pajama-clad, disaffected high school student learns how to engage the world with the help of Mr. Fitzgerald, his assistant principal.

Similar in 79%

St. Vincent (2014)

Plot Summary:

A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran who lives next door.

Similar in 83%

With Honors (1994)

Plot Summary:

Convinced he'll graduate with honors because of his thesis paper, a stuffy Harvard student finds his paper being held hostage by a homeless man, who might be the guy to school the young man in life.

Similar in 75%

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008)

Plot Summary:

The Great Depression hits home for nine year old Kit Kittredge when her dad loses his business and leaves to find work. Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin stars as Kit, leading a splendid cast in the first ever "American Girl" theatrical movie. In order to keep their home, Kit and her mother must take in boarders - paying house - guests who turn out to be full of fascinating stories. When mother's lockbox containing all their money is stolen, Kit's new hobo friend Will is the prime suspect. Kit refuses to believe that Will would steal, and her efforts to sniff out the real story get her and friends into big trouble. The police say the robbery was an inside job, committed by someone they know. So if it wasn't Will, then who did it.

Similar in 81%

Stanley Ka Dabba (2011)

Plot Summary:

Stanley studies in the all-boys Holy Family High School in Andheri East, Mumbai. While his class-mates bring their own tiffin-boxes, Stanley does not do so on the pretext that his mother is away. His friends share their food with him, much to the chagrin of the Hindi Teacher: Babubhai Verma, who not only cajoles fellow-teachers, but also virtually forces the children to share their food with him. With extra classes being imposed on both students and teachers, and the recess-breaks being doubled, parents are also forced to pack more food in their children's lunch-boxes. The students continue to share their food with Stanley. Babubhai then warns Stanley that he must get a lunch box if he wants to attend school.

Similar in 79%

The Way Way Back (2013)

Plot Summary:

Over the course of his summer break, a teenager comes into his own thanks in part to the friendship he strikes up with one of the park's managers.

Similar in 77%

Pay It Forward (2000)

Plot Summary:

Like some other kids, 12-year-old Trevor McKinney believed in the goodness of human nature. Like many other kids, he was determined to change the world for the better. Unlike most other kids, he succeeded.

Similar in 85%

Detachment (2011)

Plot Summary:

A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long enough to form any semblance of sentient attachment.

Similar in 89%

The Emperor's Club (2002)

Plot Summary:

William Hundert is a passionate and principled Classics professor who finds his tightly-controlled world shaken and inexorably altered when a new student, Sedgewick Bell, walks into his classroom. What begins as a fierce battle of wills gives way to a close student-teacher relationship, but results in a life lesson for Hundert that will still haunt him a quarter of a century later.

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Dead Poets Society (1989)

Plot Summary:

At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.

Similar in 87%

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Plot Summary:

Five high school students, all different stereotypes, meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.