The Quiet Storm of ‘A Teacher’: When Fiction Mirrors Reality
‘A Teacher’ didn’t arrive with cinematic bombast. This drama unfolded like a whisper of a troubled narrative that was waiting to become an echo—requiring attention and forcing confrontation in ways that were uncomfortable. In 2013, Hannah Fidell independently wrote and directed the drama, later expanding it into a series for FX in 2020. The drama examines the scandal of a young teacher and her student, but beyond this, ‘A Teacher’ explores profound human weakness, perhaps most disconcerting for the audience because of the emotional proximity of the cracks in the narrative and the people who created it.
A Narrative Too Close for Comfort
The drama follows Diana Watts, played by Lindsay Burdge, a seemingly calm Texas high school teacher. Outwardly, Diana is soft spoken and reserved, but as the plot unfolds, so too does her loneliness and desperation—ultimately attempting to fill the void with a reckless liaison with her 17-year-old student, Eric (Will Brittain).
Initially, this film presents itself as a romantic narrative. Diana engages in secret texting, late-night drives, and steals a few kisses. The nervous energy between them is captured in the cinematography, which focuses a bit too long—not in a glamorizing beguilement, but in a revealing manner. But, slowly, the ruse starts to unveil. The film chooses to provide little in the way of fantasy; it reveals the emotional imbalance and self-destruction trails in its wake.
When the affair is made public, it is Diana’s life that comes undone. Her job, reputation, and even the core of her being disintegrate. Tragic is the dispassionate manner in which this is unfolding. It is a quotidian in its ordinariness. Fidell’s camera is as un-dramatic as the subject is, watching dispassionately as the whole thing unfolds in a slow-motion, perverse, and banal tragedy.
Lindsay Burdge: Carrying the Burden of Silence
When we watch Lindsay Burdge in this film, we see Diana as if she is slowly suffocating, and it is being captured breath by breath, in a quiet unbroken stillness. This was not purely an acting choice; it was a reflection of her own life at that moment. Prior to A Teacher, Burdge spent years in Hollywood waiting, trying to find something meaningful, and so it made sense that her struggl e found an at least partial narrative in Burdge, as she was labeled in the industry as being “too subtle” for the television and “too indie” for the mainstream films.
Burdge discussed in earlier interviews how she resonated with Diana’s invisibility; even when Diana was capable of so much, too much was expected of her. Burdge stated, “I knew what it felt like to not be seen.” This connection was integral to constructing her performance.
Reportedly, during the shooting, she was disconnected from the majority of the crew. This was intended to keep alive Diana’s relentless internal tension. As a form of quiet self-immersion, it is not method acting in the strictest sense. Burdge went so far as to avoid any small talk in between shots with Will Brittain to sustain the discomposure that characterizes the relationship in their performance.
Her performance is the embodiment of a woman submerged, and, more importantly, the facade she puts on to the world to convince it that she is not. This is something, I imagine, a lot of women, of various backgrounds, relate to.
Will Brittain: The Weight of Youth and Misunderstanding
For Will Brittain, playing Eric in A Teacher was one of the first roles that illustrated the gap between the emotional depth required and the reality of a young actor’s life. He was still in his early twenties and just becoming established in Hollywood when he signed on to the project.
Initially, Brittain explained the script as a “tragic love story”, but later understood that it was a psychological study on power and weakness. Brittain found the emotional and physical closeness of the film challenging. He was reported as relying on Fidell due to his uncertainty on how to act Eric’s emotions of love, guilt, and confusion juxtaposed to each other.
Open conversations on consent, discomfort, and boundaries were spurred by Fidell and the cast. Such unreserved exchange was uncommon in 2013, given that the use of intimacy coordinators on film sets was still a developing practice. Burdge took it upon herself to champion and advocate that Brittain be treated with care in the more intimate scenes, attempting to make the set as safe as possible for him.
The Real Lessons Behind the Camera
However controversial A Teacher was, it did serve the purpose of reliable conversations that had been triggered around emotional and psychological manipulation and emotional grooming, a topic that had been minimally discussed with a female perpetrator lens. It was important for Fidell to make a honest film and not a sensational one.
Productions often have very limited budgets. In the case of this one, the real locations captured on 16mm film were Texas public schools. The crew operated in the suffocating heat with minimal equipment, and there was no escape from the pressure of a tight schedule. In a time of shoestring budgets, Fidell’s small crew took on multiple roles. The cinematographer lit the scenes, and Fidell drove the crew vehicle.
The filmmaking approach was minimalistic, and this worked in the film’s favor. The use of available light and hand-held cameras provided a documentary style that worked perfectly for the film. There was no cinematic cushion between the characters and the audience. Contrived emotional cushions were absent, and it was simply two people dealing with the harsh reality of a failed relationship.
Burdened Emotion
The emotional impact of A Teacher goes beyond the mere implication of the scandal. The emotional state of the film crew, in particular Burdge’s silenced desperation, Brittain’s uncertainty, and Fidell’s brave commitment to a potentially harmful narrative that needed to be told, were powerfully intertwined to create a raw emotional effect.
The film does not invite its audience to feel sympathy for Diana; rather, it implores its audience to appreciate her profound isolation, her delusional state, and her fragile humanity. In a sense, Burdge’s struggle to gain recognition as a serious actress mirrors Diana’s struggle to be seen as more than a schoolteacher. Both women sought to control their own narratives, only for those narratives to control them in the end.
Audiences had different reactions to the film at the Sundance Film Festival; while some viewers appreciated the film’s honesty, others found it discomforting. Even discomfort, however, became a legacy for the film and prompted discussions about consent and power in a manner few films had previously achieved.
The Shadow of Quiet Films
After A Teacher, Lindsay Burdge appeared in several more independent films and became recognized as one of the most fearless performers in indie cinema. The film’s critical attention encouraged Hannah Fidell to reimagine the story as a limited series, starring Kate Mara and Nick Robinson, and still focusing on the psychological dimensions of the relationships, this time, with more space to explore them.
Nevertheless, the original film still stands as the purest form of the story. It is a haunting, intimate portrayal of the ease with which boundaries can be relinquished in the face of deep solitude.
Given the highly respectful and culturally significant implications of teacher-student relationships in India, A Teacher has a different resonance. It is not only the taboo, but also the fundamental human need for connection and how disordered that need can be, causing devastation to both individuals.
Similar to Burdge’s understated acting, the film is silent and still. It whispers, hangs in the air, and creates a lingering ache. Most of all, it endures. It reminds us of a sobering truth: not all powerful stories are shocking in nature. Sometimes, the quietest are the most powerful, reflecting our own story in another’s demise in a profound and impactful way.