Cracks

Set in the 1930s, Eva Green is Miss G, a swimming / diving instructor at an exclusive girls boarding school and adored by her team of girls, captained by Di played by Juno Temple. They are enthralled by her tales and claims of worldly experience and travel which soon turns out not to be true. In fact, the team dynamic soon changes when an actual worldly wise and travelled Spanish girl joins the school who Miss G favours much to the anger of the other girls, particularly Di.

There has been some criticism that this is largely atmosphere over plot and there is some justification for this. That said, as with many sinister school stories, there are vicious undertones here and it all neatly builds through considerable tension to a shocking finale. Everyone in this is does a fine job and Eva Green has always been cut out for this sort of role, supported here by the growing stardom and acting talent of Juno Temple.

Jordan Scott, niece of director Tony Scott who with his brother Ridley Scott serve a executive producers of this film, makes and impressive debut as a director/writer (with Ben Court and Caroline Ip) in this intensely interesting and well crafted adaptation of Sheila Kohler's novel CRACKS. This is a period piece (1934) that takes place in St. Mathilda's School in Stanley Island, England, an isolated all girl British boarding school. The mood is one of Gothic evil where rich young girls participate in the cloistered rigid education imposed by the matrons of the school -Miss Nieven (Sinéad Cusack), Matron (Helen Norton), and Miss Lacey (Deirdre Donnelly) - whose chief concern is to guard the reputation of the school at all costs, and lightened only by the presence of the swimming/diving coach Miss G (Eva Green) whom the girls admire for her exotic beauty, worldliness, supposed travel around the world, and her possessiveness of her brood.

One of the girls, Di (Juno Temple in a brilliant performance), is the team captain and the apparent favorite of Miss G - until the sudden arrival of a beautiful Spanish girl Fiamma (María Valverde) who tends to set herself apart form the rest of the claque (Di, Poppy (Imogen Poots), Lily (Ellie Nunn), Fuzzy (Clemmie Dugdale), Laurel (Adele McCann) and Rosie (Zoë Carroll). Fiamma is an expert diver and her gifts as a sportsman as well as her beauty attract Miss G, replacing Di as her favorite. In jealous rage Di gathers the claque and plans the exit of this unwanted intruder. How this backfires and increases Miss G's attraction to Fiamma leads down another path of evil that pulls this little tale of terror to a surprising end.

Eva Green manages to make Miss G a fascinating character and her gradual obsession with Fiamma and the direction that takes her is a very fine performance. But the entire cast - girls and teachers - is superb, especially Juno Temple in a career making role. The cinematography by John Mathieson finds both the haunting beauty of the isolated St. Mathilde's School and the splendid panoramas of nature add immeasurably to the film as does the musical score by Javier Navarette - a score that combines Anglican hymns with gentle piano music. This is a triumph for all concerned and bodes well for the career of Jordan Scott.

Grady Harp

What a masterpiece Jordan Scott has put together here. She's created a work of art transcribing this novel to film with all it's topical and universal applications. Not many films move me to tears, but this one did.

Nothing is harder than to be great and to be misunderstood, to have no means of moving your talents forward as symbolized by both the isolation of the dramatic school on the island, and the the swim team. Nothing is harder than not to fit in. Nothing is more wrenching than potential and innocence gone to naught, and evil that lurks in all our hearts.

But there is redemption in true friends, the hero which rises to the cal in the best of our selves, if only for a moment, before it all dissolves into thin air....such stuff a dreams are made on.

Not only was the cast superbly selected, but the setting, on location shots, the costumes and very important the film score made this a superb experience for me.

The foundations are similar: a tightly regimented boarding school, and one cavalier staff member who encourages nonconformity and an independent spirit. From this basis arises themes of social cliques, jealousy and unequal obsession, petty cruelty, secrets, anxieties, a facade and pretense belying actual lack of knowledge or experience, and still more story or character ideas lending to considerable tension. None of this is particularly remarkable, perhaps, save for the extremity to which all such notions are taken - where other titles have explored such ideas with a mind toward light fantasy, or coming of age, 'Cracks' instead becomes astoundingly bleak, and almost altogether horrifying. For all that, it's increasingly compelling, though one way or another this ranges from "hard to watch" to "surely not appealing for all."

The movie does boast concrete narrative threads, especially in the character arc of Miss G, though they are loosely assembled such that strictly speaking it never feels like we're being propelled in a specific direction. All this may not sound like much, but as the length advances and dynamics become more severe, the tableau becomes unexpectedly dark and forceful, and likewise more actively engaging as events build toward some inevitably terrible conclusion. Through it all I can only commend the cast for their fine performances, not least the younger members of the ensemble. Juno Temple, María Valverde, and Imogen Poots portray the chief students Di, Fiamma, and Poppy with vibrant life and harsh personality, such that even if the story were centered only on these three it would be quite absorbing. Eva Green, meanwhile - force of nature that she is, able to speak volumes with only the slightest of gazes or facial expressions - has rarely taken on a role so unremittingly dreary as Miss G. That says a lot, given her list of credits; either way, as expected she navigates the part with all the tremendous nuance and skill we know she possesses.

Ultimately 'Cracks' comes off more as a character drama than anything else, a slant which may serve in some measure to limit its audience. Such as it is, however, at length I believe the writing and direction are wonderfully strong, tying together a feature that can also claim fabulous filming locations, production design, art direction, and costume design. Overall I think this is very worthwhile on its own merits; however, even at its most taut and grim it's never perfectly captivating. I enjoyed watching, yet it also feels like something is missing, one or two puzzle pieces without which the image is less than whole. It's hard to put into words exactly what the issue is, though in any case this is purely subjective. And even if it's not flawless, by and large I'm pleased to have spent time with this movie, and it earns a soft recommendation. Suggested above all for fans of Green or the other cast members, 'Cracks' may not be entirely essential, but it's a well made picture, and worth checking out if you have the chance.

CRACKS is an intense psychological drama set in a boarding school for girls. The storyline is quite predictable insofar as such topics as passion, lust, sex, bullying, abuse, peer group pressure, and power politics are brought to the fore, and they're all subjects that have been done previously on film. Yet at the same time this low budget production has a sheen of quality to it, an air of lyricism that makes it watchable.

Eva Green headlines as the seductive teacher who's a subject of affection for many of the girls in her care. Green can do no wrong in my eyes and gives a typically assured and confident role. Juno Temple is the main villain of the piece and is well cast because there's something repulsive about her character that Temple nails ever so well. The rest of the cast are fine, although Maria Valverde is never quite as sympathetic as she should be.

CRACKS is a slow moving film in which little really happens until the end, and yet there is some suspense here, as well as drama. Nothing is very explicit and yet the themes explored are nonetheless powerful, and the ending is suitably horrific. It's not the sort of film that's going to set the world on fire, but it engrosses all the same.