The teacher was dragged because of her recommendation for a film about a man in love, after 6 years a thought-provoking film has now been made about her

Katalin Moldovai’s film Elfogy a air, which is already available on Netflix and is inspired by real events, talks about the nature of power and oppression along with the big questions of the teaching profession. It happened in 2017 that a Romanian literature teacher, Adela Stan, left her teaching career after she was dragged and humiliated because she dared to recommend to her students the movie Total Eclipse, released in 1995, in which the then young Leonardo DiCaprio and David Thewlis, also known from the Harry Potter films, played the main roles.

As is known, Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud had a very special relationship with each other, even despite the big age difference. After they met, a mutual deep sympathy quickly developed between them, they went to dubious entertainment places together a lot and made friends with not exactly pleasant people; not to mention that Verlaine tried to accustom the 17-year-old Rimbaud to absinthe during these debauched nights. Then the friendship of the two poets completely changed, it became love. By the way, according to my memories – although I saw it a long time ago – this relationship is well presented in Total Eclipse, which elaborated the relationship between the two poets in an erotic historical drama.

This was the film that the Romanian literature teacher recommended to the students, and some parents didn’t like it very much. Although the film does not show homosexuality in the least for its own sake, it caused a huge scandal because parents asked themselves to recommend such films to their children at school. The case became an investigation, then a media circus, the teacher was dragged because of this, and in the end he completely turned his back on his profession.

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6 years later, a film about this, Elfogy a argá, was presented, which completely escaped my attention when it was released in Hungary, but now I was able to watch it on Netflix, and I must say, in some ways, I was very surprised that within the framework of the NFI Incubator Program supported this production. Then, as I watched the film and saw a little behind the story, I noticed what made the Film Institute consider it important to support this project, since on the one hand it was made by creators and actors from Transylvania, that is, from across the border, and on the other hand, they could see this film as let the case of the Romanian literature teacher serve as a deterrent example for teachers working in domestic schools.

I must add that a film showing male love is not necessary for an investigation to be launched against a teacher, it is enough if he simply does not follow the paved path, according to the official curriculum, but deviates a little from it and takes the teaching in a different direction; it’s no coincidence that this movie reminded me a bit of Dead Poets Society.

Running Out of Air is a very thought-provoking film, because the question really arises in one’s mind, how limited teachers are, and we can see the serious consequences that can result if a teacher recommends a film which, although closely related to a particular to the curriculum, but due to what was seen in it, it may be questioned whether a teacher could even recommend this to his students. By the way, this reminded me of my old literature teacher, who included Harry Potter in the final exams. This is interesting in this case, because of course JK Rowling herself confirmed that one of the key characters in the novels, Albus Dumbledore, is gay; however, then according to them, none of the most successful series of novels in the world could be mentioned or recommended to students, let alone included in the final exams, since it features a wizard whose sexual orientation differs from what some people think is normal.

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In my opinion, this already represents a level in this whole gender issue that is excessive, and on this basis, I think the question legitimately arises that if an 11th grade student cannot watch a film about the love and relationship of two French poets, then why are Hungarian students still taught the poetry of János Pilinszky, who, although he was a married man, is rumored to have actually been attracted to men.

The film “I’m running out of air” can raise very interesting questions, and that’s why I can really recommend everyone to watch it, not because it dissects a sensitive topic in some way, but because it will start some kind of thought process and reflect a little on where society is heading, what the real problem is; what it is when a teacher crosses certain boundaries and what it is when parents overreact to things.

Running Out of Air is now available on Netflix, you can see its trailer below: