Repressed desires and distaff rivalries in a 1930s boarding school for girls is the subject of this ambitious directorial debut from Scott, daughter of Ridley. Set on the fictional Stanley Island (somewhere off the Norfolk coast), where an eccentric games mistress (Eva Green) inspires the devotion and quasi-romantic affections of her students, the movie charts the devastating effect that an exotic new Spanish pupil has on the school’s delicate emotional balance. Echoes of schoolgirl classics such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie abound, but Scott — through poignant character work and a powerful climax — makes this movie entirely her own.
15 (104min)