Writer-director Hannah Fidell’s debut feature, A Teacher, tells the story of a high school teacher who enters into a sordid love affair with her underage student. It’s the type of tale that’s been played out in many iterations in the past, usually dominating our 24-hour television news cycles and daily papers, titillating the public imagination as much as it breeds a sense of communal, moral outrage. But asking the question of morality, ultimately, isn’t the main goal of the movie. Fidell presents the affair between English teacher Diana (Lindsay Burdge) and charismatic teen Eric (Will Brittain) with an ambiguity that neither romanticizes nor condemns their actions. Their flirtatious looks in school hallways, clandestine rendezvous in the backseats of cars, and naughty nighttime text messages form the frame on which a second story rests—a story not about a scandalous love affair, but the psychological workings of a woman bent on self-destruction. (via)