Bad Apples

Gone are the days when young adult comedies had students lock up their teachers (Teaching Mrs Tingle). In a striking role reversal for a new generation, thriller-esque Bad Apples sees its overwhelmed educator Maria Spencer (played by Saoirse Ronan) resort to similar measures with a young troublemaker at Ashton Brook Primary School.

Mullet-toting Danny is disruptive in class and violent towards his peers, leaving teacher’s pet Pauline with a broken arm. While the latter results in his suspension, all attempts to notify Danny’s father remain unsuccessful. Miss Spencer stops by the family home to inform the parent, but in an effort to defend herself against another outburst from the boy, she accidentally injures him. En route to the hospital, Danny starts threatening her, leaving the teacher no other choice but to change course, go to her house and confine the child in her basement instead.

In his sophomore feature, Swedish director Jonatan Etzler employs a particular brand of dark humour that viewers have come to associate with Scandinavian cinema, even as the film is firmly rooted in the English school system. The combination upends any expectation of a bleak British social drama in favour of an incisive, keenly observed satire, its key question of how to deal with destabilising elements subliminally expanding beyond the classroom.

The feature plays with its core motif of the apple in various iterations, opening to a serene image of an orchard with the fruit landing near its tree (hint hint). The ensuing sequence charts the operations of a cider mill: a cold, rigid processing system, designed to produce homogeneous pulp. During the field trip to the factory, the audience gets its first sense of Danny’s exploits delaying the entire teaching experience for the class (“one bad apple can spoil the barrel”). Gradually, the feature makes way for the modern reinterpretation of the proverb, where “it’s only a few bad apples” are used to excuse systemic issues.

Rhythmic sounds such as the windshield wipers of Maria’s car not only help create a palpable tension, but naturally bleed into the movie’s score. The composition uses woodwind instruments to add a particularly playful element to its fatalistic undertones, creating an unsettling atmosphere that continuously dangles the threat of chaos.

It is utterly enticing to see Saoirse Ronan take on such an unexpected, semi-villainous role. Various departments work together to tone down and subdue her star wattage: a chestnut rinse in her hair and oversized grey hoodies ensure a muted appearance to fit her character’s blend-into-the-background persona. Brilliantly weaponising audience sympathies for the actress, the narrative practically tricks the viewer into backing Maria Spencer, despite her morally reprehensible choices.

“Good with outstanding features” is an inspector’s verdict for Miss Spencer’s teaching methods, a sentiment equally applicable to the film. Bad Apples suffers from the unfortunate timing of being publicly released after Jan Komasa’s Good Boy – both films premiered at TIFF and LFF last autumn – whose overlapping subject matter threatens to overshadow it. Yet its brilliantly juicy blend of sinister comedy and urgent political bite elevates the feature into a thrilling watch that easily stands on its own.

Selina Sondermann

Bad Apples is released nationwide on 18^th September 2026.

Watch the trailer for Bad Apples here: