Following the sudden death of a star pupil, a fainting epidemic hits a 1960s girls school. Maisie Williams’ haunted teen is undoubtedly the ring-leader, but what’s the cause? Hormonal rebellion, murky family secrets and a dizzying whiff of the occult coagulate in this sensuous coming-of-age drama that feels like a distant British cousin of Picnic At Hanging Rock.
As rapturous schoolgirls swoon and domino, the eerie hysteria fades through repetition, but Carol Morley’s film has a lot going for it, not least a thick, vaporous atmosphere, alive with unease and sexual anxiety, and an eye-catching debut from the casually charismatic Florence Pugh.
