The film was produced in 2008, written for
the screen by Caroline Ip, Ben
Court County Wicklow , Ireland
Set in a strict elite British boarding
school in the 1930s, the story centers on a clique of girls who idolize their
enigmatic diving instructor, Miss G (Green) (in the film, we learn that Miss G
had been a student at the same school where she now works and, in fact, may have
even continued on at the school after she graduated). Di Radfield (Temple Spain
When Fiamma is eventually found, the two
girls make the first steps towards friendship, and at the following dorm party
they all get a bit drunk, and Fiamma faints. Miss G takes her to her own room.
Then Miss G kisses her and sexually assaults her while she is passed out; Di
witnesses this through the room door, which was left ajar, and then flees.
The next morning, Fiamma is visibly upset,
Miss G equally so as she runs around after her. Di is broody, and eventually
tells the rest of her gang that Fiamma seduced Miss G. Fiamma presumably tells
Miss G that she will report the molestation to the teachers, and horrified,
Miss G realises her career will be over. She in turn manipulates Di's affection
for her into anger. She says that Fiamma will make up lies about her molesting
her (even though it was true) and plan to get her kicked out of school. Di
absolutely refuses to allow this to happen. The confrontation between Di's gang
and Fiamma turns ugly as Fiamma declines to answer Di's vicious questions and
tries to explain what really happened, hinting at Miss G's lies and character
defects. Fiamma runs into the forest as things become more violent, but the
girls catch up with her and, under Di's leadership, beat her up with their
fists and sticks. Fiamma starts to have an asthma attack, and the girls stop,
terrified. They run to get help, and Di runs into Miss G (who had been watching
the beating and the chase that ensued quietly and with no attempt to stop the
beating), who says she'll stay with Fiamma, and directs Di to go get a teacher.
In the forest, Miss G, alone with Fiamma,
refuses to give Fiamma her inhaler and calmly watches her die. Di returns just
in time to see Miss G placing the inhaler in Fiamma's lifeless hand, and that's
when she realizes the truth.
Later, Di tells the other girls what
happened and, united, they confront Miss G. They are powerless officially, but
they quit the swim team and symbolically turn in their sashes. The headmistress
refuses to acknowledge the school's culpability, and seems only concerned with
the school's reputation, but releases Miss G from her duties.
The final scene has Di leaving the school
to explore the world, as both Fiamma and Miss G had spoken of doing, whilst
Miss G, fired from the school, goes to the local village and finds a small room
she can live in, presumably closing herself away for the rest of her life. In a
scene that perhaps allows the viewer a better understanding of Miss G's very
complex personality, we see her put her few personal possessions on her bedside
table. She puts one item there and then quickly removes it to make room for
another item. After that, she counts the items to make sure there are only
five. The viewer is then reminded that when Fiamma arrived at the school, in
the dorm room, Di had told her that only five personal items could be displayed
on her night table at one time. The audience then realizes Miss G is as much a
victim of the institutionalized setting she grew up in (she was perhaps like
many of the girls at the school "dumped" there and basically
forgotten about by her family) as Fiamma was her victim.
No comments:
Post a Comment