Cracks (film)

Set in the 1930s in a strict elite British boarding school called St Mathilda's, the story centres on a clique of girls who idolise their enigmatic diving instructor, Miss G (Eva Green) (in the film, we learn that Miss G had been a student at the same school where she now works and may even have continued on at the school after she graduated). Di Radfield (Juno Temple) has a crush on Miss G, and is the firm favourite and ringleader of her group. When a beautiful Spanish girl named Fiamma Corona (María Valverde) arrives at the school, Miss G's focus is shifted away from the other girls. It becomes a triangle: Miss G gets increasingly obsessed with Fiamma, Fiamma is disturbed by Miss G and also openly disgusted by the teacher's hypocrisies and deceptions, and Di is terribly jealous and makes Fiamma's life hell.

Miss G (who claims to be a world traveller) goes to a nearby parochial town to buy some provisions. She draws the unwanted attention of some local louts and is visibly upset and in a near-panic when she returns to the school.

The bullying culminates in Di physically throwing Fiamma out of the school but, unable to return to Spain as she hoped, Fiamma returns later that night.

Di and Fiamma begin to develop a friendship. Fiamma faints at a dorm party, and Miss G takes her to her own room, where she rapes her while she is passed out. Di witnesses this and flees.

The next morning, Fiamma is visibly upset, and Miss G is equally distressed as she runs around after her. Di is broody, and eventually tells the rest of her gang that Fiamma seduced Miss G. Fiamma presumably tells Miss G that she will report the molestation to the teachers, and horrified, Miss G realises her career will be over. She in turn manipulates Di's affection for her into anger. She says that Fiamma will make up lies about her molesting her (even though it was true) and plans to get her kicked out of school. Di absolutely refuses to allow this to happen.

The confrontation between Di's gang and Fiamma turns ugly as Fiamma declines to answer Di's vicious questions and tries to explain what really happened, hinting at Miss G's lies and character defects. Fiamma runs into the forest as things become more violent, but the girls catch up with her and, under Di's leadership, beat her with their sticks and fists. Fiamma starts to have an asthma attack, and the girls stop, terrified. They run to get help, and Di runs into Miss G (who had been watching the beating and the chase that ensued quietly and with no attempt to stop the beating), who says she'll stay with Fiamma, and directs Di to go get a teacher.

In the forest, Miss G, alone with Fiamma, refuses to give Fiamma her inhaler and calmly watches her die. Di returns just in time to see Miss G placing the inhaler in Fiamma's lifeless hand, realizing the truth.

Later, Di tells the other girls what happened, and, united, they confront Miss G. They are powerless officially, but they quit the diving team and symbolically turn in their sashes. The headmistress refuses to acknowledge the school's culpability, and seems only concerned with the school's reputation, but releases Miss G from her duties temporarily.

The final scene has Di leaving the school to explore the world, as both Fiamma and Miss G had spoken of doing, whilst Miss G goes to the local village and finds a small room she can live in, showing that all her tales of her travels have indeed been fake like Fiamma had told Di and she has been, perhaps, habiting this small room instead. In a scene that perhaps allows the viewer a better understanding of Miss G's personality, we see her put her few personal possessions on her bedside table. She puts one item there and then quickly removes it to make room for another item. After that, she counts the items to make sure that there are only five. The viewer is then reminded that when Fiamma arrived at the school, in the dorm room, Di had told her that only five personal items could be displayed on her night table at one time.[5]

The lead actresses at the film's showing at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Left to right: Eva Green, Juno Temple, and María Valverde

• Eva Green as Miss "G" Gribben
• Juno Temple as Di Radfield
• Maria Valverde as Fiamma Coronna
• Imogen Poots as Poppy
• Zoë Carroll as Rosie
• Ellie Nunn as Lily
• Adele McCann as Laurel
• Clemmie Dugdale as Fuzzy
• Sinéad Cusack as Miss Nieven
• Deirdre Donnelly as Miss Lacey

Cracks received a mixed reception from critics. It has a score of 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 51 critic reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Atomospheric but not much else, Cracks is a formless film in search of compelling drama."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 54 out of 100 based on 12 critic reviews.[2]

• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
• Notes on a Scandal

• Mellor, Richard (4 December 2009). "Cracks". Eye for Film.
• Millward, Liz; Dodd, Janice G.; Fubara-Manuel, Irene (2017). Killing Off the Lesbians: A Symbolic Annihilation on Film and Television. McFarland & Company. p. 28. ISBN 978-1476668161.
• Reed, Rex (15 March 2011). "Movie Review: Ridley Scott's Daughter Makes a Thrilling, Polarizing Debut With 'Cracks'". Observer.
• Snarker, Doroty (29 October 2009). ""Cracks" reveals a disturbing tale of boarding school obsession". AfterEllen.

• Official website
• Cracks at IMDb
• Cracks at AllMovie
• Cracks at Box Office Mojo
• Cracks at Lumiere
• Cracks at Rotten Tomatoes