As the trailer for Cracks started, I was poised for some kind of all-girls boarding school rebellion because you know, that's just what usually happens in movies about boarding schools. Either that or the headmasters turn out to be witches. But really, who would want to rebel against the gorgeous Eva Green? Not these students! They completely adore her! And she loves them right back! She loves them so, so much, and she especially loves this beautiful, rich Spanish girl...and yeah, that's when the trailer gets creepy.
So, in a nutshell: Eva Green is obsessed with this Spanish girl Fiamma (Maria Valverde). Like creepy-stalker obsessed. This makes Fiamma mostly terrified, but it also makes Eva Green's former favorite, Juno Temple, really jealous. Scandal, melodrama and beautiful cinematography ensue. Besides exploiting the obvious allure of watching sordid desires erupt in upper class society (see: Notes on a Scandal), the film gets extra points for convincing both Tony and Ridley Scott to put their names on it as producers. Their endorsement doesn't make any sense at all in terms of their bodies of work, but there's a certain charm to that.
Based on how incredibly young Temple looks, you can probably guess that this movie was actually shot a while back and released in England over a year ago. Thankfully, since the U.S. is still pretty slow to import worthwhile foreign films, this doesn't necessarily signal bad news about the movie's quality. And really, even if the film isn't actually good, I can't imagine how it would be boring.
Verdict: Sold!