Cracks, the directorial debut of Jordan Scott, Ridley’s daughter, takes its inspiration from the great movie adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, with Eva Green subbing in for Maggie Smith (big shoes, but Green fills them) as the charismatic, beloved, manipulative boarding-school teacher who may not be as wise as her adoring cadre of female students believe her to be. But unlike Miss Brodie, Green’s character’s undoing comes not thanks to her totalitarian sympathies so much as to her sapphic, possibly murderous ones. Miss G (Green) rules a group of girls, led by Juno Temple’s Di, who hang on her every word, and it seems hard to blame them. But the dynamics of the clique are upended upon the arrival of Fiamma, a Spanish student who’s good at everything and whom Miss G quickly becomes overly, creepily interested in. Cue Dead Poet’s Society–level angst and Mean Girls–level cattiness and things gets threatening very fast, with lots of tears, jealousy, looming violence, and soignee period costumes. Looks good.
