Eva Green's character in this melodrama set in the 1930s is a neurotic teacher who has hit early on the eyeliner-heavy goth look, making her a cross between Jean Brodie and Siouxsie Sioux. At a girls' boarding school, she encourages intense devotion from her favoured pupils, who thus have hard lessons to learn when their idol's dangerous weaknesses are revealed. It's a film without much resonance - there is no way of knowing what lasting effects the pupils' experiences will have on them - but it's smoothly made by Jordan Scott. (See interview, page 13.)
15, 104 mins