Bad Apples Review: Teaching Gone Wrong

School-based black comedy Bad Apples is a film with a lot to say, but little idea how to present these things with any real clarity or profundity.

Where other satirical dramas that spotlight state institutions such as schools or hospitals might go for rigid realism, Bad Apples goes the other way, descending into farce that does more harm than good to its themes.

After the aforementioned violent act, in which Danny pushes fellow student Pauline (Nia Brown) down the stairs, thus begins a mad and maddening series of unbelievable events. Maria’s previously calm demeanour and responsible behaviour is dashed out of the window after a few moments of bad luck and even worse judgement, and it’s this sudden increase in surrealism that really rocks Bad Apples in its early stages. Director Jonatan Etzler (One More Time) and screenwriter Jess O’Kane try to create a world rooted in realism, but the increasingly unbelievable events and actions destroy any credibility. 

Granted, being based on a book (“De Oönskade” by Rasmus Andersson) restricts them somewhat with the story being told, but Etzler and O’Kane veer too quickly from clever satire to sheer stupidity. Bad Apples swiftly becomes a headscratcher of a film, creating confusion instead of intrigue, and its reprehensible plot is needlessly cruel. At the centre of the chaos is the ever-infallible Ronan, who gives a solid performance of a teacher driven to despair by stress. She does her best to keep a handle on some rather poor character writing. It is testament to two of the supporting characters, though, that Ronan isn’t the best thing about Bad Apples.

Newcomers Waller and Brown shine in their respective roles. The former is a transfixing ball of young rage, physically threatening and verbally offensive, but with depth drilled into the character in the latter stages of the film. As the goody-two-shoes teacher’s pet Pauline, Brown is a delight, an increasingly unnerving presence to Maria, especially as she makes further discoveries about her teacher’s secrets. One particular moment with Brown late on in Bad Apples involving a keyboard performance highlights the young actor’s skillset, and is also one of the few examples where Etzler’s film clicks as a comedy-drama.

In fact, the last 15-20 minutes of the film give things some semblance of meaning. The surreal situation takes on an even more bizarre tangent, but it works. It is just a shame that the journey to get to this point is so frustratingly messy, thus lessening the conclusion’s impact. Bad Apples is a film that tries so hard to be about the teaching crisis in the UK as well as the lack of support for young children, but despite some promising moments, it comes off undercooked in both of these aspects.

Bad Apples will be screened at the BFI London Film Festival on 9-11 October, 2025.