Cracks

Cracks takes place at an all-girl’s boarding school in the 1930’s. A love triangle develops between unorthodox teacher, Ms. G and two of her students. Di is enthralled with Ms. G and was previously the star student of Ms. G’s diving class. However, new Spanish student Fiamma overtakes Di in both her role as star diving student and as the object of Ms. G’s affection. Unlike Di, Fiamma does not care for Ms. G’s interest in her. If anything, this makes Ms. G’s interest in her grow quickly to an unhealthy level. Isolated from her classmates because of Di’s jealousy, Fiamma has no one to turn to as Ms. G gets more obsessed and inappropriate towards her.

The acting in Cracks is really good. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Juno Temple give a bad performance and she steals the show here. I have seen Eva Green give bad performances and I’m pleased to announce this isn’t one of them. She’s very good in this. The strong cast is rounded out by Imogene Poots and María Valverde. I’m surprised María Valverde’s career didn’t take off in the years following this film because it’s a great introduction to her as an actress.

Cracks is a beautiful film to look at. For one thing, it stars Eva Green so I could probably just end this paragraph here and not give any more evidence to support this claim. Beyond Eva Green’s face though, the cinematography is rich and stunning. The costume design is also very good though really, I don’t think it’s that difficult to make Eva Green look good in period piece clothing. That’s kind of her specialty.

The problem I have with Cracks is that it’s perhaps too subtle. For a thriller, it’s just not thrilling until the third act and by then it’s too late. I think Cracks would’ve actually benefited from being more melodramatic. They have a strong enough cast to support going a little more over the top and a great atmosphere to go there. As it stands, it’s the most boring depiction of obsessive love I’ve yet seen.

Cracks is a good-looking take on an unoriginal premise. Whether or not this movie is for you is going to depend on how much you value visuals over script. Personally, my focus is usually script. Therefore I found Cracks lacking. Its story wasn’t anything new nor was it a even a particularly good take on old tropes. It’s a fully watchable movie for sure and Jordan Scott shows great promise as a director. But the story and pacing lets it down.

Overall rating: 6.2/10

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