Not Rated (but would get an R for aberrant sexuality and some nudity)
Directed by Hannah Fidell
Starring Lindsay Burdge, Will Brittain, and Jennifer Prediger
IN THEATERS AND ON DEMAND NOW.
I just had to watch A Teacher. If you have the time, go on YouTube and watch the trailer. It pins you to your seat. It's a similar story about a high school teacher who has an affair with a student, yet the trailer makes it look like the movie is going to dig deep into the characters' minds and explore WHY so many real-life teachers are caught having these affairs. By the end, however, A Teacher ends up feeling INCREDIBLY underwritten. The movie is only 75 minutes, for a start, and though a short running time may have worked writer/director Hannah Fidell (her first feature) fails to create a compelling character study. In Notes on a Scandal, another scandalous "teacher-sleeps-with-student" drama, we understand why Cate Blanchett's character sleeps with a 15 year old because she misses her wild hippie days (plus her husband is super older than her). The teacher in this movie is an enigma. She's very screwed up, but we never know why. There's no need for a backstory, but there's a need for some explanation.
Writing flaws aside, A Teacher is chilling and very well-acted. Perhaps it's the haunting score by Brian McOmber that fooled us into thinking we were going to watch a powerful sexual drama. Lindsay Burdge gives a nuanced yet confused performance as Diana Watts, a 30s-something English teacher at an Austin, Texas high school. She lives with her smiley friend, Sophia (Jennifer Prediger), but overall seems like a pretty lonely person. One night she meets up with her brother and he confesses that he and their mom are "worried" about her. Diana puts her head down, fidgets, and leaves her brother at the bar before glancing in the distance against a wall as the camera drifts backwards. Ok, so there's something psychologically wrong with her, but what is it, exactly? She's also been sleeping with one of her students, a cute jock named Eric (Will Brittain). We don't see how the affair started. When the movie starts off Diana and Eric have been together for a while.
As a viewer, we somewhat enjoy watching the two together. It's twisted, I know. A teacher shouldn't be sleeping with a high school student. Yet Diana and Eric are happy souls when they're in bed. It's creepy but it works. Diana even confesses that she hasn't been this happy in a while. Eric is sort of a douchebag (especially in the scene where he asks his teacher to go down on him while he's driving), but he's charming to be around. Of course, a happy ending for the two is out of the question. Diana's paranoia grows as their affair gets closer to being discovered. Even worse, she's falling for Eric. A part of her knows this is wrong but she can't stop herself. Her paranoia and undying lust for the jock creates a nervous breakdown. Unfortunately, Fidell never hints at the reasoning for Diana's desires. There are too many shots of the teacher jogging in her neighborhood while McOmber's eerie score blasts. A little less mood and a little more psychological explaining would help.
WHY WHY WHY can't Diana stop sleeping with Eric? Why is she acting like this? What forced her to begin this affair? Is she afraid of getting old and wants to rekindle her youth? That might be it. In one scene she and Diana go to a party and a guy tells her that she's "totally the teacher all the little dudes in high school wanted to bang." Diana forces a smile and walks off, obviously pissed. The ending of A Teacher is out of nowhere. It starts and you think "No. Please no. Don't end. No." When it cut to black I literally yelled "UGHHH NO!!! Why are you ending here?!?!?!" The movie tries to provoke but fails because the characters feel so flat. The same could be said of Eric. Why is he having this affair too? Is he just a perverted high schooler who likes getting action with a teacher? I couldn't figure out his thoughts and whether he's even trying to be the responsible one in the relationship. He's just there to look cute, really.
Visually Fidell is brilliant at creating dark, somber moods. There's an effective moment where Diana listens in on teachers talking about a nude photo going around school of a topless girl. It's a photo she texted to Eric. The camera slowly moves closer to Diana's face as she tries to hold her stoicism. The score and dark look of it all parallels the unhealthy relationship between the leads. That's all fine, there's just no character development. Then again, this is Fidell's first movie. She can get better!
