6.9
Jean, a PE teacher, is forced to live a double life. When a new student arrives and threatens to expose her sexuality, Jean is pushed to extreme lengths to keep her job and her integrity.
Rosy McEwen
Jean Newman
Kerrie Hayes
Vivian Highton
Lucy Halliday
Lois Jackson
Lydia Page
Siobhan Murphy
Becky Lindsay
Jill
Maya Torres
Mindy Singh
Ellen Gowland
Carol Ridley
Amy Booth-Steel
Debbie
Stacy Abalogun
Ace
Izzy Neish
Abi
Kate Soulsby
Joni
Lainey Shaw
Paula
Farrah Cave
Michelle
Deka Walmsley
Dave
Gavin Kitchen
Baldock
Emily Fairweather
Mrs Lea
Aoife Kennan
Sasha
Scott Turnbull
Tim
Dexter Heads
Sammy
Kylie Ann Ford
Lisa
Edmund Wiseman
Craig
Elizabeth Shaw
Anne
Nick Figgis
Ferg
Isla Bowles
Aimee
Catherine Lee
Netball Teacher
Shannon McLean
Char
Mana Azarish
Rachel
Oliver Maratty Quinn
Mike
George Legg
Skateboarder
Laura Rutherford
Helen
Darren Jones
Chippy Owner
Patrick Ziza
Drag Queen
David Gales
Dog Walker
Director, Writer
Georgia Oakley
Script Editor
Philippe Barrière
February 24, 2023
6
"Jean" (Rosy McEwan) is a physical education teacher at a school in Northern Engand. Privately, she is having a relationship with the out and proud "Viv" (Kerrie Hayes) but the emphasis here is very much on the "privately" - something that her confident girlfriend struggles to comprehend. When "Lois" (Lucy Halliday) joins her netball class, then runs into her in a bar later, things become complicated for "Jean" and the remainder of the film illustrates just a short segment of her troubled life as her pupils start to put two and two together and mischief and malevolence rears their very ugly heads. As a gay lad who lived at the time I am actually a little tired of films that make out that "Thatcher" was some alien space invader sent by God to cleanse society. The views of her government represented massive numbers of people in Britain - across the political spectrum - who were terrified about the perceived adverse influences on children of what they saw as "permissive" practices. Rather than acknowledge these concerns as legitimate (at the time) and put some national context into this story, this film really only takes a couple of people whose relationship never comes across as especially strong anyway, and try to make a greater political point. To have been successful there, balance is essential. The underlying plot issues are potent, but they are not developed anywhere near enough to create substantial characters and instead offer us a rather undercooked swipe at a system that was as broadly representative then as it is not (thankfully) now. The production is all a bit basic and though McEwan offers us a considered performance and the film is certainly worth watching, I had really hoped for something just a bit deeper and stronger.