‘A Teacher’: Hannah Fidell’s FX Sexual Predation Series Compels With Complexities, But Collapses With Consequences [Review]

Acclaimed indie filmmaker Hannah Fidell’s gripping feature-length effort, “A Teacher” (2013), was a career-making debut. Lodged somewhere between psychological thriller and character study—a portrait of a woman slowly unraveling— the drama centered on a Texas high school teacher (Lindsay Burdge) engaging in a sexual affair with her student. “A Teacher,” was evocatively ambiguous in its compelling ideas of desperation, the crucial things missing in our lives, and the way damaged people go to dangerous lengths to fill them. What made the film a bold standout— especially by 2020 standards, in retrospect— is the way the horribly misguided actions of the teacher are implicit and speak for themselves.

“A Teacher,” however—Fiddell’s FX TV remake of her own film, now turned into a ten-part limited series— is rarely ambiguous about anything, nearly consumed with consequences and accountability, once the more-absorbing complexities of the sexual dynamics and ideas of desire are explored. This new series version feels very much like a product of 2020, in that, the notions of depicting sexual predation responsibly, often overshadow the storytelling itself and are done so to the detriment of the show’s drama. The series, while engaging initially— well-shot, crafted, and acted—eventually almost feels like an apology for the way her original film didn’t speak to issues of sexual predation while also explicitly damning her own lead character without any equivocation.

“A Teacher” centers on Claire Wilson (Kate Mara), a quiet young teacher at a suburban Texas high school, and the relationship that evolves with her student, Eric Walker (Nick Robinson). Claire is stuck in what appears to be a perfectly fine, but typically dull marriage to her college sweetheart Matt Mitchell (Ashley Zukerman). But warning signs of deep-seated dissatisfaction ring early; something is missing, and Claire wants more.

Whereas the relationship in 2013’s version began in media res, in this new update, it’s built towards, the show seemingly careful to show, at times, how she is “grooming” him and at the same time, pointing towards something much more complicated. This contradictory tension runs throughout the series, almost like studio notes versus a filmmaker or a filmmaker just extremely (too?) aware of the hyper-vigilant discussions that could spark from their show (like the QAnon pedophile nuts who blame Hollywood for sex trafficking).

Claire’s debating using IVF to get pregnant, but her husband is seemingly more interested in starting a family than she is. Desperate for connection, Claire quickly befriends fellow teacher, Kathryn Sanders (Marielle Scott). Still, things start to change when she meets Eric, a charming student, and the soccer team’s popular captain. An outgoing senior in her English class, Eric asks for help preparing for his SAT test, and the furtive glances between them soon begin to bubble with alchemic attraction, bit-lip intimacies, and then threaten to become something highly inappropriate.

Six of the ten episodes are directed by Fidell (Gillian Robespierre, and Andrew Neel sub in for two additional eps a piece), and the tense build-up to their affair is absorbing. Mara and Robinson are excellent, and “A Teacher” is at its best when the series expresses ideas of desire, sexual or otherwise, and all the things missing in our lives that can make people crave illicit affairs, or dangerous excitements that can easily self-destruct in one’s life. The surreptitious thrill of secretive flirting and texting, and keeping a secret from the world—the filmmakers excel at the chase and making “A Teacher” feel intoxicating with ideas of thirst and dangerously indecorous longing (a soundtrack of dreamy indie-pop helps).

If that sounds too alarmingly enthusiastic, that’s because the show is both disconcertingly crafted, and much stronger in its first half. The show sets the viewer on a suggestive and captivating ride with the protagonist, then, affectively turns on both of them, suddenly (and yes, this is unsettling to admit and experience as a viewer, though what makes the complexities so fascinating, even if the actions are so reprehensible).

But then reality has to strike when boundaries are crossed. And it almost becomes the show’s unintentional jarring wet blanket, like when the harsh lights go up at a bar at closing time, and the entire once attractive situation feels starkly unpleasant. Yes, the relationship is alarming, immoral, and criminal from the beginning, but the show is set up to convincingly seduce you as much as Eric’s been seduced by Claire (and to be fair, vice versa).

Shit goes sideways, as it should, but then “A Teacher” goes at least three episodes past where most stories would end. Claire goes to jail. Claire tried to rebuild her ruined life; Claire gets into deeply unhealthy sexual relationships built on the self-loathing she now has for herself, etc. All the while, the heavily implied message throughout is Claire destroyed someone else’s life, and now we get to watch the bluntly lit consequences of her utterly destroyed life.

On one hand, and in theory, great. Applaud the well-intentioned, well-made show for demonstrating the severe costs of abusing someone, and completely ruining their life. But this is drama, and “A Teacher” quickly becomes a long and protracted punitive epilogue that overstays its welcome. And it’s heavy-handed to the degree that it’s almost like an after school special about consequences that could be shown to potential sex offenders upon release of their first wrongdoing. And lastly, it’s just dramatically inert, and feels like beating a dead horse and not letting audiences understand on their own just how wrong and amoral Claire’s behavior with Erik was (like in the original film).

In depicting all the after-the-fact events—Claire with her family, her estranged father (M.C. Gainey), her disappointed brother (Adam David Thompson), Eric attempting to move on and suffering in college relationships—the filmmakers clearly want to be responsible and explore the aftermath of personal disaster, the permanent damage left in the wake of irredeemable choices, and scarring consequences that will never subside. It’s admirable, and arguably unlike most things you see on TV. Unfortunately, none of it possesses surprise and allure; much of it is deeply depressing, all of it is anticlimactic, and the notions of moral obligation, and accountability supersedes the need to create compelling drama. What would you have them do? The answers are uncertain, but certainly, it’s clear that this iteration of “A Teacher” doesn’t quite earn the same top marks. [C+]