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Watch an Exclusive Clip From the Acclaimed, Oscar-Nominated Monsieur Lazhar

We know that Vulture readers pride themselves on seeing a whole lot of the Oscar nominees every year, but there’s one of the 2011 honorees you probably couldn’t have caught until now: the acclaimed Canadian film Monsieur Lazhar, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and is opening in the U.S. this weekend. Mohamed Fellag stars as Algerian immigrant Bachir Lazhar, who manages to talk his way into replacing a middle school teacher who’s committed suicide. The students are still recovering from the shock of their teacher’s death, and slowly, Lazhar draws them in, but he’s got his own secrets, as well as his own agenda for pursuing the job. In this exclusive clip, you’ll get a hint of one of them: Lazhar conducts the class in French to cover for the fact that he doesn’t speak English, but when he brings in an English instructor, his students try to include him in the lesson. Enjoy … and check out David Edelstein’s rave for more information.

Watch an Exclusive Clip From the Acclaimed, Oscar-Nominated Monsieur Lazhar