Tamara Caulkins

SPOILER ALERT. This film started out alright, but when the teacher and returned alum have sex it seems very out of character for the teacher. Most teachers are pretty careful about hugging students or even former students. But it gets worse: the film makers don't seem to have read the "inspiring" classics that this teacher supposedly read as a child, completely missing the way characters such as Jane Eyre fight back against the injust lot life has thrown at them (not to mention - ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT - the wife in the attic). The film suggests it was ok to take advantage of a woman teacher at every turn of the tale, from paying for the play going over budget to counting on her to finish directing the show. In the end, the teacher's effort to rewrite the ending could have been applauded, but no, she was firmly cast as a "reader, not a writer." Going out on a date with a doctor was supposed to fix everything. Disappointing story and sad role model for young women.