OBSERVER: Bad Apples
Jonatan Etzler’s black comedy Bad Apples follows a struggling teacher, played by Saoirse Ronan, whose attempt to wrest back control of a situation escalates with increasingly desperate and hilarious consequences.
Ronan plays Maria, a young teacher whose life is falling apart.
After her assistant principal lover, Sam (Jacob Anderson), dumps her, Maria’s life spirals.
Professionally, she is losing control of her students and incurring the principal’s displeasure (Rakie Ayola).
One student in particular, the disruptive, demonic Danny (Eddie Waller), is causing chaos and making Maria’s life miserable.
After assaulting another student, Danny is suspended.
For a while, all is calm, and Maria’s life seems to have turned for the better.
A looming education department inspection becomes the catalyst for a dark turn as Maria tries to prevent Danny from returning to school, culminating in a rash decision.
In a moment of madness, Maria kidnaps Danny and locks him in her basement.
This situation proves a godsend for both the unlovable Danny and Maria as they begin one-to-one tutoring.
Enter another of Maria’s students, the teacher’s pet, Pauline (Nia Brown).
A neophyte blackmailer, the canny Pauline threatens to ruin Maria’s newly serene and much improved life.
This premise launches a narrative that rockets ahead, from bad to worse and back again.
By the final scene, we can predict that the status quo cannot last and that this will end in tears.
Still, plenty of twists and laughs come along the way as the situation amplifies.
Based on Swedish author Rasmus Lindgren’s novel De Oönskade (The Unwanted), the film’s lead performances make it stand out.
Ronan, Brown and Waller are all excellent, underpinning this razor-sharp satire of emotional neglect and the failures of Britain’s public education system.
Screening in Australian cinemas from November 19. For details visit palacecinemas.com.au/movies/bad-apples
Review by Kathryn Keeble