A Teacher (BBC iPlayer) Stream It or Skip It

Based on her 2013 movie of the same name, Hannah Fidell expands her original story of a teacher/pupil affair into a mini-series for FX, with mixed results. A Teacher is streaming now on BBC iPlayer.

Based on her 2013 movie of the same name, Hannah Fidell expands her original story of a teacher/pupil affair into a mini-series for FX, with mixed results. While the TV version broadens the film’s narrative as promised by exploring the affair’s consequences for the student (Nick Robinson) and the teacher (Kate Mara), it also feels confused about its core messages.

Claire (Mara) has just joined the teaching team at a high school in Austin, where Eric (Robinson) is a senior. The new young teacher is immediately a point of attention within Eric’s social circle as young male conversations create a cocktail of bravado, imaginary conquest and sexual imaginings that make Eric feel uncomfortable. Following a chance encounter in a local coffee shop, Claire agrees to mentor and support Eric through his exams, and it’s not long before the boundaries between them blur with a consensual but confusing affair forming.

Despite the effort to flesh out the narrative, A Teacher struggles to connect with its audience on a deeper level, even with the outstanding performances of Robinson and Mara. Here, A Teacher fails to fully explore Mara’s motivations while treating Robinson’s character with kid gloves, resulting in a drama that lacks bite as the events unfold in short 25-minute episodes.

However, this is far from the only problem at the heart of A Teacher. A Teacher’s attempts to explore themes of guilt, coercion, and judgment steer clear of any broader commentary around the clear premeditated abuse of position at play in relation to gender roles. Strangely, this lets Claire off the hook despite the damage to her career. If this had been a gay male teacher with a gay male student, the outcomes would have been very different. Maybe A Teacher is attempting to highlight this, or perhaps they didn’t have the nerve to explore these conversations on a deeper social level.