Cracks (2009)

CRACKS  (2009)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Jordan Scott
    Eva Green, Juno Temple, Maria Valverde,
    Imogen Poots, Ellie Nunn, Adele McCann,
    Zoe Carroll, Clemmie Dugdale, Sinéad Cusack
Secrets, lies and repressed desire in the hothouse confines of a girls' boarding school. The year is 1934. The place is an island off the coast of Britain. (The movie was shot in Ireland.) Eva Green plays "Miss G", a cool, young, worldly teacher whose first-person tales of travel and adventure keep the girls entranced. The school's a well-ordered, self-contained universe, till a new student arrives, a girl from Spain. That's when things start to crack. A lot of this has the look of old, hand-tinted post cards, all muted colors and hazy light. Scott's instinct for atmosphere draws you in, even if, like some of us, you've never set foot in a girls' boarding school. And Green's Miss G is a real piece of work, with her cigarettes and darkened eyes, her outgoing, confident manner masking a paralyzing contradiction, the most deeply guarded secret of all. When she's on screen, you can't take your eyes off her. When the movie's over, she still won't quite go away.