‘Bad Apples’ Review: Saoirse Ronan Plays a Tired Teacher Battling a Difficult Student in a Sharp Dark Comedy With Shocking Twists

A black comedy that’s more of a charcoal than a true, pitch-dark Vantablack, Bad Apples stars Saoirse Ronan as an exhausted teacher working in a typically underfunded British elementary school, who resorts to desperate, foolish measures to deal with a difficult student (Eddie Waller, a real discovery in his first-ever role). While Ronan, in fine comic form here, has been acting since she was a kid herself, most of the above-the-line staff are relative newcomers. That includes Swedish sophomore director Jonatan Etzler (One More Time) making his first English-language feature, and screenwriter Jess O’Kane, adapting Swedish novel De Oonsade by Rasmus Lindgren.

Although the relocation of a very Nordic communitarian milieu to a British setting creates its own cultural dissonances, the end result is a nifty ethical puzzle about balancing the needs of individuals versus those of the community. Still, it’s best not to take the plot too…