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Bad Apples

Play trailer Bad Apples 2025 1h 40m Comedy Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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83% Tomatometer 36 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 Ratings
Maria, a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behavior spiraling, she makes a series of questionable decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this "bad apple" in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.

Critics Reviews

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Ty Burr Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack) Dec 6
2.5/4
An entertaining but awfully heavy-handed black comedy– or maybe it’s heavy-handed but awfully entertaining – about an idealistic grammar school teacher who takes extreme measures when dealing with a disruptive class bully. Go to Full Review Tim Robey Daily Telegraph (UK) Oct 22
2/5
Gunning for dark laughs, [the film] wins a handful that thinly reverberate, but the constant straining to be both stressful and funny is a deal-breaker. Go to Full Review Guy Lodge Variety Sep 25
Ultimately, this odd, wicked little amorality tale winds up siding with no one: The children are indeed the future, we’re left to conclude, but will they make it any better than the present? Go to Full Review James Mottram Radio Times Jan 21
4/5
The film becomes a power play between teacher, student and, ultimately, the PTA committee. Asking just how far you'd go for your child's education, this is howlingly funny. Go to Full Review Olivia Popp Cineuropa Jan 17
Accompanied by an omnipresent, thunderous and almost villainous soundtrack by Chris Roe, Bad Apples signals its pitch-black satire with gusto, with inserted shots of orchard apples sparkling artificially in the sun, rotting from the inside out. Go to Full Review Joe Lipsett Movie Oubliette (Podcast) Oct 30
4/5
Ronan is playing delightfully against type in this dark comedy that offers plenty of bite. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Cast & Crew

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Jonatan Etzler

Director

Saoirse Ronan

Maria

Eddie Waller

Danny

Nia Brown

Pauline

Jacob Anderson

Sam

Rakie Ayola

Sylvia
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Bad Apples

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Movie Info

Synopsis Maria, a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behavior spiraling, she makes a series of questionable decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this "bad apple" in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.
Director
Jonatan Etzler
Producer
Oskar Pimlott
Screenwriter
Jess O'Kane
Production Co
Pulse Films
Genre
Comedy, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 40m