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Eva Green, Juno Temple, María Valverde, Imogen Poots, Clemmie Dugdale ... see more see more... , Sinead Cusack , Adele McCann , Ellie Nunn , Zoe Carroll

In an austere and remote all-girls boarding school, the most elite students are the illustrious members of the schools' diving team. Di (Juno Temple), Lily (Ellie Nunn), Poppy (Imogen Poots), Laurel (... read more read more...Adele Mccann), Rosie (Zoe Carroll) and Fuzzy (Clemmie Dugdale) are the envy of their fellow pupils who watch on as the girls compete for the attention of their glamorous teacher MISS G (Eva Green). MISS G in turn thrives on the attention she receives from her girls and believes it is her role to teach them the ways of the world. As Team Captain, DI is closest of all the girls to Miss G but her position is challenged when a beautiful Spanish girl, Fiamma (Maria Valverde), arrives at the school and joins the diving team. DI, pulls rank as team captain and lays down the rules in an attempt to assert her position but MISS G is spellbound by Fiamma's beauty and maturity and becomes obsessed with her new favorite girl. Consumed with jealousy, Di encourages the group to bully their team mate and they chase her out of the school. When Fiamma is made to return the girls are forced to try and get along with Fiamma and as they open up to her they too begin to warm to the charms that so captivated Miss G. In an attempt to put their differences aside - the diving team and Fiamma plan a secret midnight party to celebrate the feast of St. Agnes; a ritualistic celebration that is both innocent and erotic. A night that begins with high spirits soon takes a turn that will change the girls' lives forever as Miss G interrupts the evening and takes a drunken Fiamma away to her room... -- (C) IFC

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47 critics

R, 1 hr. 47 min.

Directed by: Jordan Scott

Release Date: March 18, 2011

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DVD Release Date: July 19, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (357)

  • itsjustme2004
    November 8, 2011
    itsjustme2004
    A film about a psychotic, predatory lesbian, and a group of boarding school girls. Some tension filled scenes, intertwined with catfights, bullying, and tons of estrogen. All this could have been a great recipe for a memorable movie....but I found it just average. Eva Green, howe... read morever, is quite great in this....
  • LWOODS04
    August 13, 2011
    LWOODS04
    Cast: Eva Green, Juno Temple, María Valverde, Imogen Poots, Ellie Nunn, Adele McCann, Zoe Carroll, Clemmie Dugdale, Sinéad Cusack, Helen Norton

    Director: Jordan Scott

    Summary: Jordan Scott -- daughter of helmer Ridley Scott -- makes her directing debut with this thriller ... read moreset at a British all-girls boarding school between World War I and II and starring Eva Green as a popular teacher and coach of the swim team. When a new girl arrives at the cliquish and hormonally charged institution, jealousies erupt, obsessions arise and, eventually, a student disappears.

    My Thoughts: "Jordon Scott really did a fabulous and beautiful job with her first film. The under water scenes where gorgeous. The acting is so good. Especially by Eva Green. Miss G. is a beautiful, exotic, and a free spirit in her girl's eyes. She cheers on her girls and teaches them that the most important thing in life is desire and that you can have anything in the world all you need to do is desire it. Not until Fiamma shows up do we see the other side of Miss G. The much darker, disturbed, unbalanced, troubled side. Fiamma brings out the worse in Miss G. Miss G. desires Fiamma's attention and love. Fiamma is quick to notice there is something wrong with Miss G. and tries her best to stay free of her, but there's no escaping Miss G. or her loyal jealous followers. Great film! Intense with great performances from all the young ladies. Must see for certain."
  • romy861
    July 31, 2011
    romy861
    Very slow to start, but definitely worth sticking with. I was really enthralled by this once it become apparent that the beautiful Miss G (Eva Green) was a little mentally unbalanced. I actually had sympathy for her character right up until the very last bit. After that point ... read moreit became a little hard to excuse her.
    This is beautifully filmed and it's interesting that someone has compared this to Heavenly Creatures, because that's exactly what it reminded me of, though obviously different, not a rip off in any way.
    The actresses who play the school girls are a little unremarkable, but it further marks the glamour of Mss G and, to a lesser extent, Fiamma (Maria Valverde), the student who eventually pushes Miss G's fragile sanity over the edge. I think it was a smart move to make the other girls quite ordinary and unmemorable. Compelling and interesting movie. Not sure if it would be one all would enjoy, but certainly worth a look.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    August 20, 2010
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Innocence isn't lost. It's taken."

    A look at the lives and relationships among girls at an elite British boarding school.

    REVIEW

    Mesmerising. Predictable perhaps, but only because it stays tru... read moree to so many classic roots (Think Picnic at Hanging Rock meets Lord of the Flies meets Death in Venice... the list goes on) Yet it's never clichéd. Definitely an instant classic on so many levels, and that's before one realises it was directed by the progeny of one of the world's greatest filmmakers - should that be prodigy? Given the history, I feel it's almost a pity there wasn't a part for Harvey Keitel, as he seems to star in the debut masterpiece of more than a few great modern directors, including Ridley Scott, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, etc... Personally I would have given him a small cameo as one of the townspeople just for fun! Bravo the Scott Clan (no wonder it felt a bit like watching The Hunger for the first time.) - Encore!
  • McKittrick
    April 8, 2010
    McKittrick
    I did so want to like this - the tantalising premise intrigued me at the very least. But, as hard as I tried, I couldn't engage with the characters who ranged from stiff and aloof to petulant and annoying. And with a story that was just a little too chilly and inscrutable for it... read mores own good I really couldn't summon up much of a response beyond a rather tepid anxiety.
    A flic that promises much and looks rather beautiful but ultimately it's a bit of a cock-tease (in every sense) and is only really as appetising as licking coloured ice.
  • xas5
    August 25, 2011
    xas5
    Cracks is a dark, yet poetic look into the lives of a small group of sheltered school girls. Eva Green plays their teacher, sharing exotic stories and seducing the girls with her charm and "life experience". But when the new French student, Fiamma is introduced, favoritism drives... read more them all apart, eventually leading to some very unexpected twists, the likes that a period drama has never seen. Sexy, yet innocent, this film surprises in the best of ways.
  • xxdebxx
    August 7, 2011
    xxdebxx
    Based on the novel by Sheila Kohler of the same name and directed by Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley), Cracks is set in 1934 at a prestigious English boarding school where physical violence among the students is the most popular part of the curriculum, next to lesbian lust. Scho... read moreolyard bullying is nothing new and mean girls will be mean girls.

    The all-girls boarding school is oppressive and strict which is probably why most of the students look up to the glamorous diving instructor Miss G (Eva Green), because she is the opposite. Miss G is a passionate and rule-breaking teacher that is adored by all the students for her lack of traditionalism. She instills in her girls one talisman to live by -"The most important thing in life is desire, nothing is impossible, all you need is to desire it" - and does her best to follow her own advice. She chain smokes, drinks too much, and disobeys the school rules encouraging free thinking, moonlight skinny dipping and the kind of ambiguous sexuality that turns her impressionable pupils positively giddy with hormonal confusion. As played by super-cool Eva Green, who raised temperatures as the only femme fatale James Bond ever truly loved, in Casino Royale, Miss G symbolizes sophistication, independence and erotic freedom.

    Miss G basks in their attention, but when she starts playing favorites, flames of jealousy begin to flicker. Teacher's pet and team captain Di Radfield (Juno Temple) feels threatened by every girl who gets too close to her role model. Arrogant and haughty, she has always been the group leader and ranking alpha female, but all of their rigid, implacable little lives and routines are turned upside down by the arrival of a new student, Fiamma (María Valverde), a beautiful asthmatic Spanish aristocrat with superior diving skills along with a calm worldliness that none of her teammates possess. Miss G is transfixed by the new girl's poise and beauty and becomes obsessed with being Fiamma's friend (and perhaps even more).

    Fiamma's fate as an outcast is sealed when Di, consumed with jealousy and frustration over Miss G's growing obsession with this foreign intruder enlists the other team members in a campaign to drive her out of the school. The film takes a while to get going but it kicks into high gear for a suspenseful and powerful finale as this silent brooding siren drives Miss G. insane (literally, not just metaphorically) from her stifled lesbian passions.
    .
    The cinematography is outstanding. The shots of the lake, are crisp and beautiful. Even at night, the lake is wonderfully lit and everything is visible so it is hard to believe that Cracks is Jordan Scott's debut feature as a director.


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  • danieljparsons
    December 19, 2010
    danieljparsons
    Starts promisingly and does have its moments but the complete lack of subtlety (LOOK, ONE OF THE GIRLS HAS ASTHMA - THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT) and some woeful child acting (all affected mannerisms and awful accents) do let things down. Comparisons to thematically similar films like ... read morePicnic at Hanging Rock and Heavenly Creatures are less than favourable, and the ending feels a long time coming. Eva Green is pretty good though, I really like the repeated diving metaphor and the film isn't by any means awful; I enjoyed it whilst I was watching it. In other words it's entertaining but not really worth seeking out.
  • DrStrangeblog
    January 2, 2012
    DrStrangeblog
    "You shouldn't be so bloody spare all the time! You're making her miserable, you know, and you're ruining the team! IF we're to be stuck with YOU, then you'd better learn that the happiness of the team FAR outweighs that of your own!"

    "I don't want to be part of your team.     ... read more I'm not even meant to be here."

    "But you're here now, so you'd better make the best of it, and stop being so bloody selfish!"

    "I'm not selfish. I just want to go home."

    "Don't you think we ALL want to go home?!?"

    The apple cart of order is upset by the arrival of a Spanish girl of royal blood at a remote boarding school on Stanley Island off the coast of England in 1934. An intriguingly complicated and continuously shifting triangle of acrimony and affection arises between scandalously free-thinking instructor Miss G (Eva Green), her jealously loyal protege Di (Juno Temple), and the exotic world-wise Fiamma (Maria Valverde.) All three are terrific, particularly Temple whose pride is easily hurt and then repaired, and whose beliefs are challenged in the wake of Fiamma deducing the truth that hides behind the glamorous stories Miss G spins of her adventures. And who else but Eva Green could pull off the twisted seduction scene? The rest of the young cast are also top-notch - why coudn't the original Harry Potter casting director find kids this adept? The malfeasantly monikered Imogen Poots reminded me of a giggly Kate Winslet from Heavenly Creatures or Sense & Sensibility.

    A lush score led by violin and piano (reminds me weirdly enough of the sad inflections present in the soundtrack for the videogame Max Payne 2!) and beautiful cinematography perfectly evoke the time and place. And diving - there's lots of diving, but I was more captivated than if watching an Olympic medalist. A worthwhile peek at a darker side of a way of life from a bygone era.
  • Lemure
    December 22, 2011
    Lemure
    Eva Green and Juno Temple are the standouts in this film, but the whole thing is let down by too much whimsy and a lack of "bite". Kind of a dark Mona Lisa Smile...

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Critic Reviews

Carrie Rickey
May 12, 2011
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

While Scott's movie has a consistent aura, it lacks a consistent tone. Full Review

James Berardinelli
April 6, 2011
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Driven more by characters and relationships than narrative, Cracks explores the exclusionary power of cliques that develop within a closed society, the single-minded violence of the mob mentality, and... Full Review

V.A. Musetto
March 18, 2011
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

"Cracks" recalls any number of girls-school dramas, like the much better "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969). Full Review

Stephen Holden
March 17, 2011
Stephen Holden, New York Times

In many ways "Cracks" is lurid and rickety. But its gripping ensemble performances lend it an emotional intensity that outweighs its shortcomings. Full Review

John Anderson
March 17, 2011
John Anderson, Wall Street Journal

Worth seeing just to watch Ms. Green ride that teacher right off the rails. Full Review

Sam Adams
March 17, 2011
Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times

The pieces never form a convincing, or coherent, whole. Full Review

Rex Reed
March 16, 2011
Rex Reed, New York Observer

There is so little dialogue of any significance that I can't figure out why the film is credited with three screenwriters, but Ms. Scott knows what to do with the camera to show dark psychological for... Full Review

Ella Taylor
March 15, 2011
Ella Taylor, Village Voice

All of which is heavy-breathing fun until an ill-judged lapse into Lord of the Flies territory and a Jean Rhys-ian climax all but bury the message about the evils of repression. Full Review

Victoria Alexander
October 11, 2011
Victoria Alexander, FilmsInReview.com

The story twists beautifully and shockingly. The ending is brilliant. Skillfully directed by Jordan Scott. Full Review

Moira MacDonald
June 23, 2011
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

"Cracks" is a moody, often lurid tale of rivalry and repression. Full Review

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    • Miss G.: Girls, we are angels, eagles! To dive is to fly. Set yourself free of the shackles of conformity. Let nothing hold you back except the air itself. You are between heaven and earth. The rules no longer apply.
    • Miss G.: The most important thing in life is desire. You can achieve anything you want. The world is yours for the taking. Nothing is impossible for you, my girls. All you need is to desire it.
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Cracks Trivia

  • What overly-protective movie mom tried to stop her daughter from going to prom, claiming her dress was revealing, and that she could see her "dirty pillows"? hehehehe... I'm sorry... "dirty pillows"... that just cracks me up.  Answer »
  • In shrek, after shrek brushes his teeth and cracks the mirror, the bugs form a name, which actors name is that?  Answer »
  • In Million Dollar Baby, how does Hillary Swank immobilize herself in her final fight?  Answer »
  • Name the movie from it's plot outline: In a small village in the Shire a young Hobbit named Frodo has been entrusted with an ancient Ring. Now he must embark on an Epic quest to the Cracks of Doom in order to destroy it.   Answer »
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