Just a Beginning-Ce n’est qu’un début (2010)

Directed by: Pierre Barougier, Jean-Pierre Pozzi | 97 minutes | documentary

The documentary ‘Just a Beginning’ is set in a French kindergarten (école maternelle) in one of those sad French apartment blocks that you, as a holidaymaker, prefer to pass quietly. Under the leadership of (among others) the enthusiastic teacher Pascaline, a philosophical experiment takes place in the school. It is about philosophy as an activity, not about history or theory. Nowhere does the name of Sartre or Hobbes or even Socrates fall. The experiment does, however, seem to build on the ‘Socratic method’, in which knowledge is sought through dialogue. The big questions come from mother hen Pascaline, the disarming answers from tiny people with mobile bodies and cute heads. It is a first step in teaching these ‘newcomers’ how to get a grip on the world around them, whose news is dominated by bombings, refugees and Barack Obama. At least if they can keep their attention.

During two school years, the children regularly meet for a ‘séance de philosophie’. To think, talk, and reflect on the question on that day’s philosophical menu: ‘What is a ‘boss’ anyway? And a ‘friend’? “What is ‘fear’?” ‘Some love’?’ ‘Dead’? Such a ‘séance’ is a moment in the life of the preschoolers when they are temporarily less concerned with the that and what of life, and more with the why of it. Pascaline marks this turn by lighting a white candle at the beginning of each lesson. The intimacy that develops between Pascaline and her students is expressed in ‘Just a Beginning’ with long close-ups and a microphone that picks up absolutely everything. “I have a secret!” one of the children confides in a whisper to a classmate. Even that is not hidden from us.

Funny and endearing is the moment when Pascaline speaks with her colleagues about her attempts to spark a philosophical discussion: “Nothing! Nothing comes out of them at all!” she says, in a tone that is somewhere between surprise and disappointment. The well-meaning adult and the disinterest of her audience. The latter is not entirely true, and fortunately. Makers Pierre Barougier and Jean-Pierre Pozzi rely mainly on verbal nuggets that their subjects give them: “Our soul is an invisible thing. And blue”, a little smart-ass reports at some point. Unfortunately, the documentary does not adhere to the adage of the philosopher, who considers the substantiation as important as the answer. Nothing is taken for granted. “Explain…,” Pascaline replies time and time again. What ‘Just a Beginning’ doesn’t explain is her own enthusiasm. Why does she think it is so important that preschoolers deal with questions of life and the meaning of concepts and ideas? You hardly get to know her at all. Fortunately, this is less true for the children, for N’dickou, Yanis, Abderahmène or Louise. Because their words reveal what kind of world they grow up in. “A girl can’t fall in love with a girl,” says one. Another says: “You shouldn’t get married all the time, you should only get married once.” Well, opinions in the large human world still differ on this. Pascaline leaves that discussion untouched. Perhaps because the parents of the offspring may be less open-minded when such topics become part of the conversation.

The best thing about ‘Just a Beginning’ is that meeting between children who are completely absorbed in life, in what they observe and such an unexpected question from Pascaline. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if they care at all about the answer. Often they seem to be mainly concerned with each other, and with the elasticity of their bodies. Until the next moment another resounding statement follows: “Someone is smart if he doesn’t put the chocolate spread in the fridge.” Cinematically, sobriety and repetition dominate. The rhythmic editing can feel repetitive in the long run. If you are confronted for the umpteenth time with an abandoned sandbox or a poppy field, for example. Even the touching reflections of these little ones lose some of their evocative power because of their succession. It is possible that you suddenly wander off and Pascaline has to intervene to keep you on track. As far as the children are concerned, that is fighting against the grain. Once the candle is blown out, they return to their daily activities. Play around in the schoolyard, draw in class, and dress up in the play corner. They mainly learn by doing. But somewhere in those children something of those candlelight scenes lingers, it seems. And oh well, you can give Pascaline that too.