A TEACHER
B-
USA (77 mi) 2013
d: Hannah Fiddell Official site
An unusual choice for a first feature, as the subject matter
itself is simply never that compelling, and for that reason, the first half of
the film drags terribly, as there’s little to hold the audience’s
interest. Why should we care about a
smart and attractive high school English teacher sleeping with one of her
students, where the idea just seems foreign to most viewers, as this is an area
we’re not particularly interested in exploring.
Making matters worse, they’re something of a bore together, as Eric
(Will Brittain) has very little personality, yet obviously thinks very highly
of himself, if for no other reason than he’s sleeping with one of his
teachers. Due to his maturity level, who
knows what he’s saying behind her back?
What is interesting is how little information is provided by the
writer/director Hannah Fiddell, where the affair is in full bloom by the time
the film begins, with no reference to any begin point. It’s a bit icky to watch her in front of a
classroom knowing full well what she’s doing afterwards. They communicate via text messages, have sex
in cars, or places where no one is at home, always eager to see one another
again, setting up their next date, where they both behave like teenagers. There’s never any clue why this is going on,
but the story is told completely through the eyes of the teacher, Diana
(Lindsay Burdge), who is on screen for the entire duration, where the audience
reserves the right to withhold sympathy for a teen predator who may already be
a rapist.
The film that comes to mind might surprise some, but it’s
Peter Bogdanovich’s superb THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971), where Timothy Bottoms
as Sonny is a high school football player who has an affair with the coach’s
wife, Cloris Leachman as Ruth Popper, largely taking pity on her as he feels
she’s so lonesome, but he also gets what he’s after in the bargain. This is an affair that has context, as the
film is about the passing of an era, how Texas oil towns like this one are
drying up, eventually turning into ghost towns, leaving the jobs
elsewhere. The effect this has on the
population is profoundly sad, as people’s lives are as desolate as the empty Texas
landscape. Set in the early 50’s, never
once in that film did anyone ever think of rape or pedophilia. But in A TEACHER, that’s all one thinks
about, leaving a bitter aftertaste, where just watching one sexual escapade
after another is difficult to watch, where much like Michael Haneke’s THE PIANO
TEACHER, making the audience squirm in their seats is the desired effect. But there is a moment that turns this film
around, where the unconscionable suddenly develops a conscious. When they are almost discovered at Eric’s father’s
ranch, Diana freaks out, suddenly aware of the consequences she’s been avoiding
thinking about all along. From that
point on, it’s a slow walk into the descent of her own tragic doom, becoming a
tense psychological drama where her life starts to unravel before our
eyes.
Thoughtless sex was so easy for this couple, but when she
thinks about losing Eric and what might happen if she loses her job, it’s not
so easy, and she yearns for simpler times when it came automatically. Her own emotional dysfunction turns young
Eric off, as he’s not getting his way, as she’s becoming a hassle to deal with,
all things that complicate the life of an overly pampered and uncomplicated
teenager. The use of percussive drum
sounds amassing in her head is quite effective, as she’s emotionally off
kilter, unable to stop the madness that’s enveloping her. She becomes more and more obsessed with
having Eric as her own personal plaything, where the tables have turned, and
she becomes the pleading child that begs to spend time together, while his indifference
only feeds her mental instability. This
section shows some inspired filmmaking, as Burdge’s performance is stunning,
where we’re at times sympathetic, fascinated, and repulsed by what we see, as
Diana becomes overly obsessed to the point where she becomes a stalker, and
still can’t stop herself. What’s most
effective here is how completely naturalistic she makes it feel, as the
audience is locked into her mindset, where she makes a beeline into mental confusion
and personal despair. We never learn the
source of her return to teenage adolescence, though she’s not close with her
family. She spends all her time on her
cellphone, continually checking out photos of Eric on his Facebook page,
avoiding all other social contact, isolating herself until he’s the only thing
in her life that matters, where what might have been a schoolgirl crush turns
into statutory rape territory. What’s
perhaps most startling is the director’s choice to use such quiet restraint as
we simply observe Diana when she finally realizes all is lost. It’s a brief venture into forbidden
territory, and by the time it’s all over, none of it seems to matter anymore.
