Maggie Gyllenhall has always gravitated toward complex, weighty roles. Currently, she’s receiving accolades for her role in HBO’s critically acclaimed The Deuce, and Netflix has also picked up The Kindergarten Teacher, which was nominated for the grand jury prize at this years’s Sundance Film Festival, where screenwriter Sara Colangelo also won the best directing award for this project. However, the film will surely churn up some controversy, as this trailer reveals an elementary school teacher whose obsession takes a dangerous turn.
The trailer starts out by highlighting the idealistic mindset of an educator, as Gael García Bernal’s character explains, which is to make a lifelong difference in a child’s life. However, Gyllenhaal’s Miss Spinelli not only recognizes the talent of gifted young Jimmy (Parker Sevak) but takes it upon herself to nurture him as a prodigal poet while comparing him to Mozart. Soon, even Jimmy reveals that he’s puzzled by the amount of attention he receives from his teacher, who appears to kidnap him, and whoa, this takes an unsettling turn:
When a Staten Island kindergarten teacher discovers what may be a gifted five year-old student in her class, she becomes fascinated and obsessed with the child — spiraling downward on a dangerous and desperate path in order to nurture his talent.
The Kindergarten Teacher will arrive on Netflix on October 12.
