critics consensus

The Kindergarten Teacher's crypticness can needlessly feel like homework, but Nadav Lapid's provocative direction and committed performances give this tale of mentorship and possession a disquieting sting. Read critic reviews

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Movie Info

A young child's gift for poetry makes him an object of fascination for his kindergarten teacher. Her desire to protect and nurture his talent from a world that bulldozes purity leads her to claim some of his work as her own.

Genre:

drama
Original Language:

Hebrew
Director:

Nadav Lapid
Producer:

Osnat Handelsman-Keren, Talia Kleinhendler, Olivier Père, Carole Scotta
Writer:

Nadav Lapid
Release Date (Theaters):

Jul 31, 2015 limited
Release Date (Streaming):

Sep 7, 2016
Runtime:

1h 59m

Cast & Crew

Sarit Larry
Nira

Avi Shnaidman
Yoav Pollak

Lior Raz
Nira's husband

Jil Ben David
The Poetry Teacher

Ester Rada
Miri

Guy Oren
Asi

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Critic Reviews for The Kindergarten Teacher

All Critics (35) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (8)

The internationally acclaimed filmmaker's new 'The Kindergarten Teacher' takes Jewish insularity to terrific extremes.

August 16, 2017 | Full Review…

J. Hoberman
Tablet
A perplexing but all-too-human psychological drama ...

November 5, 2015 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

David Lewis
San Francisco Chronicle
Poetry is dead - but maybe a five-year-old boy can save it, with the help of his kindergarten teacher.

August 14, 2015 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Marsha Lederman
Globe and Mail
Lapid, following his acclaimed 2014 hostage drama "Policeman," clearly has a lot on his mind here. But he tells his overlong story in such a diffuse, at times elliptical way that his reach exceeds its grasp.

August 13, 2015 | Full Review…

Gary Goldstein
Los Angeles Times
Keeps its audience rapt until the quietly shattering conclusion.

August 13, 2015 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Bruce DeMara
Toronto Star
Bubbling beneath the troubling educational methods is a complicated conversation about art and the audience.

August 12, 2015 | Rating: 5/5

Radheyan Simonpillai
NOW Toronto
The Kindergarten Teacher manages a delirious tone of intrigue with this uncomfortable social drama.

October 20, 2020 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
Some of the poetry used is the work of the director himself, from his school days, autobiographical overtones in a film that is subtle to the core, as is the entire sexual subtext. [Full Review in Spanish]

April 23, 2020 | Full Review…

Alberto Abuín
Espinof
Even as it grows more and more perplexing, the movie is never less than fascinating, right up to its WTF finale.

August 22, 2018 | Full Review…

Rubén Rosario
MiamiArtZine
Refreshingly, The Kindergarten Teacher offers a view of Israeli society that sidesteps the usual clichés.

February 15, 2018 | Full Review…

Steve Erickson
Brooklyn Magazine
The film is less about this prodigy than the spell he unwittingly exerts upon those sensitized to hear music where there is only noise...

October 10, 2017 | Full Review…

Jay Kuehner
Cinema Scope
Both tantalizing and convincing.

June 18, 2016 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

View All Critic Reviews (35)

Audience Reviews for The Kindergarten Teacher

Sep 18, 2015

By night, Nira(Sarit Larry) attends a creative writing group. By day, she is a kindergarten teacher. One of her charges is five year old Yoav(Avi Shnaidman) who displays a prodigious talent at poetry which Nira talks about with Yoav's nanny Miri(Ester Rada) who also wants to be an actress. Aside from pointing out that there is nothing more dangerous than a failed intellectual(which is a better explanation for Nira's actions than simple empty nest syndrome), "The Kindergarten Teacher" also has quite a few things to say about the class structure in Israel. Writer-director Napav Lapid then takes those expectations and subverts them neatly throughout, even though he has a tendency to rely on extreme close-ups a bit too much.

Walter M Super Reviewer
Jul 21, 2015

It has a curious premise, like a modern version of Amadeus (only with poetry, an unappreciated art form in our days, in lieu of music), following a madly obsessed woman who exploits a poor child to whom the gift of art comes so easy, but the film drags and feels a bit repetitive at times.

Carlos M Super Reviewer