I found this movie quite compelling. Like watching an accident about to happen, it's hard to avert your eyes.
A teacher is having an affair with one of her students. The movie doesn't really set anything up for us; we join the drama as the affair is in full flight. The couple tryst secretly in his house when his parents are out, and in her place when her flatmate is out or simply in a car, despite the fact that no matter the claims of manufacturers for the performance of their vehicles, automobiles have never been designed for comfortable sex.
It's an odd affair, but we sense that the teacher, Diana Watts, played by Lindsay Burdge, doesn't handle responsibility well – the responsibility of having a proper grown-up affair with its attendant commitment, and she certainly isn't facing up to her responsibilities as a teacher. We learn that she is also abandoning some responsibility regarding her mother – a pattern of behaviour emerges.
Diana has such an attractive and grounded look that it comes as a surprise when the relationship unravels and so does she. It's a very believable performance and we feel her pain – self-induced though it is.
The student, Eric Tull, played by Will Brittain, seems such a callow and somewhat fickle youth that his appeal to Diana obviously lay just outside the frame; she seems so much more mature and self-possessed. I think the real shock in the film comes in the role reversal about three quarters of the way through.
In the beginning, Diana controls the pace of the affair, with Eric always left wanting more, but by the end he is over her, and she can't handle the rejection. The movie ends without a definite resolution, but we suspect that Diana's career in teaching is also about to end.
I don't mind a movie that leaves things a bit obscure, and refuses to spoon feed the audience with obvious answers and situations – as long as it is done with style. "A Teacher" takes a fresh approach to a subject that has featured before; it gets you in, and doesn't overstay its welcome.
A teacher is having an affair with one of her students. The movie doesn't really set anything up for us; we join the drama as the affair is in full flight. The couple tryst secretly in his house when his parents are out, and in her place when her flatmate is out or simply in a car, despite the fact that no matter the claims of manufacturers for the performance of their vehicles, automobiles have never been designed for comfortable sex.
It's an odd affair, but we sense that the teacher, Diana Watts, played by Lindsay Burdge, doesn't handle responsibility well – the responsibility of having a proper grown-up affair with its attendant commitment, and she certainly isn't facing up to her responsibilities as a teacher. We learn that she is also abandoning some responsibility regarding her mother – a pattern of behaviour emerges.
Diana has such an attractive and grounded look that it comes as a surprise when the relationship unravels and so does she. It's a very believable performance and we feel her pain – self-induced though it is.
The student, Eric Tull, played by Will Brittain, seems such a callow and somewhat fickle youth that his appeal to Diana obviously lay just outside the frame; she seems so much more mature and self-possessed. I think the real shock in the film comes in the role reversal about three quarters of the way through.
In the beginning, Diana controls the pace of the affair, with Eric always left wanting more, but by the end he is over her, and she can't handle the rejection. The movie ends without a definite resolution, but we suspect that Diana's career in teaching is also about to end.
I don't mind a movie that leaves things a bit obscure, and refuses to spoon feed the audience with obvious answers and situations – as long as it is done with style. "A Teacher" takes a fresh approach to a subject that has featured before; it gets you in, and doesn't overstay its welcome.