Bad Apples follows primary school teacher Maria Spencer (Saoirse Ronan) who finds herself in a crisis with her class mostly because of one troublesome boy named Danny. As Danny continues to escalate problems in the classroom (and with no help from the administration at her school), Maria ends up removing Danny from the class…. in an unconventional way. What spirals is a question of what we are willing to do for our children and how do we balance the needs of the many with the needs of a select few.
The film has a great screenplay with twists and turns in the story that constantly keep it intriguing. It is also very entertaining and very funny. The situations create a lot of humour and tension as you go through this world of dilemmas. Two great performances from both the child leads are worthy of praise. They deliver exactly what their characters need and play off Saorise Ronan so well. One student is Maria’s “teacher‘s pet” character and has many amazing moments. Ronan is fantastic, showing the desperation and anxieties of a teacher. She highlights the constant performance of being a teacher and that performance becomes more layered as she hides more secrets regarding Danny’s disappearance.
What happens the screenplay is very entertaining and the choices it makes to build to a brilliant climax. That scene is awesome along with a solid final shot and an ending song that really brings the whole thing together and makes you think about the themes of this movie covers. The film features an amazing energetic score full of different and unique instrumentation that creates tension. Great visual motif scenes feature fun energetic compositions that really fits a lot of scenes. The editing helps keep up the pace for a great film and helps the comedic work from the actors shine. Highly recommend.
Bad Apples is playing at TIFF ’25. For more information, click here.
