The dictionary definition of mess is this film. A slide into disorder and chaos where nobody is right and a solution may not even exist. It’s not a horror movie… but it is a nightmare.

This German film is set in a school where some minor thefts are taking place. The way this is investigated immediately goes wrong leading to an escalation of bad decisions on everyone’s part.

That may seem like a strange topic for a film and I suppose it is. But the movie is really about workplace politics and a landslide of mistakes where no one is right. It’s perhaps the best real-world example of how a messy situation can fly out of control. Where social order collapses and there doesn’t seem to be a way to fix it. Indeed, I’ve never felt tension ratchet so tightly as in this film.

The last time I felt such a powerless feeling was in Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! While Mother is more of a symbolic nightmare, The Teacher’s lounge is grounded but shares its sense of powerlessness. Both film feels like nightmares I’ve had where all your attempts to control a situation fail and things descend further into chaos.

And yes, this is a good thing for a movie to evoke.

The film is terrifically acted by the entire cast, adults and children and meddling teens alike. The lead Leonie Benesch is walking a balance between doing the right thing and trying to manage the downward spiral of the situation. She’s terrific at playing the mistakes and her genuine desire to rectify them… or at least try to keep cracks in the dam from widening.

There’s a soundtrack that’s often just a few simple notes repeated to the point you want to crawl out of your skin. Between the way the movie is shot and edited and this continuously tightening screws they call music, the film is simply uncomfortable to experience (in a good way).

I love it’s ending… a combination of unspoken acceptance and a final shot that is both a win and a loss. There’s no solution and we can expect the full-scale mutiny to continue.

This flick is now in my <a href=”https://boxd.it/rli00″>top ten films of 2023</a> <looks at the date the date the review was posted… sighs>. It’s a terrific and nerve-wracking mess of a story that it perfectly executed for the screen. It doesn’t matter its set in school, it doesn’t matter its in German, it just matters that you feel its desperation.

Score: 92