With a title like “The Kindergarten Teacher,” you would probably expect a film that is maybe a slice-of-life portrait of one of the most important figures in a young child’s life. However, with the new film from Netflix, what you get instead is a portrait of a woman losing interest in her job and going to relatively extreme lengths to help a child reach his full potential. You know, by kidnapping and whatnot.
In the first trailer, you meet the titular teacher played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She’s obviously feeling the strain of a career that doesn’t live up to the hype. She hopes to shape young minds, but as you see in the footage, she’s cleaning toilets. That all changes when she notices that one of her young students is maybe a child prodigy. However, his father seems unwilling to explore the potential further, instead wanting him to be a normal kid. That’s when the teacher takes matters into her own hands and seemingly commits a few crimes along the way.
“The Kindergarten Teacher” premiered earlier this year at Sundance (read our review), and will also be included in this year’s Toronto International Film Festival before premiering on Netflix later this fall.
The film stars Gyllenhaal, alongside Parker Sevak, Anna Baryshnikov, Rosa Salazar, Michael Chernus, and Gael Garcia Bernal.
“The Kindergarten Teacher” hits Netflix on October 12.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Lisa Spinelli (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a kindergarten teacher in Staten Island who yearns to live a life of art and intellectualism. She takes an evening poetry class but, despite her best efforts, her work is mediocre. When she overhears Jimmy (Parker Sevak), one of her five-year-old students, reciting an original poem in her classroom, she is floored. Convinced he is the equivalent of a young Mozart, she becomes obsessed with the child and embarks on a dangerous journey to nurture his talent. As Lisa continues down this increasingly desperate path, she seems ready to throw away everything to chase an impossible dream. A tense psychological thriller, THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Parker Sevak, Anna Baryshnikov, Rosa Salazar with Michael Chernus and Gael Garcia Bernal. Sara Colangelo wrote and directed. Talia Kleinhendler, Osnat Handelsman-Keren, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Celine Rattray, and Trudie Styler produced. The Kindergarten teacher will launch in the US and Canada on Netflix on October 12 and have a limited theatrical release.