DIRECTOR
Jonatan Etzier
One More Time

STARS
Saoirse Ronan, Eddie Waller, Nia Brown, and Jacob Anderson.

Every film I have seen that Saoirse Ronan has appeared in since Ammonite opposite Kate Winslet in 2020 has left me increasingly concerned at the trajectory of her career. By the age of just 25, Saoirse Ronan received her fourth acting Oscar nomination for Little Women (a 5 star film for me!) in 2020, making her runner-up to Jennifer Lawrence (who won an Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook) for the youngest actress in history to achieve such recognition. Awards aside, the American born Irish actress is undoubtedly one of this generation’s most gifted and versatile talents whom I personally consider to be akin to a younger Meryl Streep. But a string of sub-par at worst (Foe, Blitz) and mediocre at best (See How They Run) films over the past five years have seen her out of Oscars contention and me questioning her choice of film and role.

While Bad Apples is not the film that will return Saoirse Ronan to the Oscar ballot where she rightfully belongs, its leading role is a very interesting one that requires diverse acting and showcases some of Ronan’s extensive range that until now were gathering layers of dust.

Based on a 2020 Swedish novel, Saoirse Ronan plays fifth grade school teacher Maria Spencer whose personal and professional life have met some significant challenges. Her partner, Sam (Jacob Anderson), who is conveniently a work colleague, has left her for another woman, which has also left her residing alone in a large home they planned to renovate together. At work, Maria is quickly running out of ideas and options with how to manage a disruptive problem child, Danny (Eddie Waller), in class that not even Danny’s father can do anything about. When the situation at school escalates after Danny displays aggression towards a fellow pupil that injures them, Maria decides to take control of his worsening behaviour in a most unconventional manner!

From the moment Maria makes the first of several decisions that grant her authority in the classroom and keeps Danny under her command, Bad Apples grows immense curiosity, becomes uncomfortably unpredictable and depending on just how dark you take your dark comedy, crosses a boundary or two!

Even after Maria’s initial decisive action is executed, she has found a subversive solution that must be kept secret, will have consequences if discovered and can only last short-term at best. To thwart off external suspicions and find ways to prolong the new arrangement that is garnering her teaching accolades from peers, Maria implements additional measures that further sever moral compasses and provoke viewers to wonder just far she will go to maintain it all. This is something that works both for and against the film. Clearly, the film’s sheer unpredictably heightens its entertainment capability and does produce fine disconcerting comedy. On the flip side, the tone is prone to having heavy fluctuations that give the movie an unevenness which never quite goes away. Furthermore, I think there were a plethora of opportunities for the screenplay to be much more satirical than it ultimately is. An ability to simultaneously be thought-provoking as well as unpredictable would have brought this film closer to gold sticker status.

What does receive gold sticker status, however, are the feature film debut performances of child actors Eddie Waller and Nia Brown; the latter playing a character I have intentionally not mentioned to avoid any spoilers!

Bad Apples is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from October 28th for the 2026 Russell Hobbs British Film Festival.

Moviedoc thanks Miranda Brown Publicity for the invitation to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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