The Kindergarten Teacher
A New York kindergarten teacher’s reverence for a young student’s poetry curdles into an unsettling struggle over talent, control, and personal purpose.
Overview
A teacher's passion for poetry leads her down a dark path of obsession.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- unsettling
- intimate
- morally ambiguous
- thoughtful movie night
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film as a psychologically unsettling American remake elevated by Maggie Gyllenhaal's bravura lead performance.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Lisa's belief in Jimmy's poetic genius increasingly overrides ordinary teacher-student boundaries and the child's own circumstances.
The film repeatedly places Lisa's fascination, rationalizations, and boundary violations alongside the apparent value of Jimmy's poetry.
Lisa's dissatisfaction with her routine and her own unrealized poetry become entangled with Jimmy's precocious creative voice.
Jimmy's poems become a screen for Lisa's ambitions and for competing adult ideas about education, talent, and recognition.
Films like The Kindergarten Teacher, and why
Notes on a Scandal
shared themes of obsession, artistic ambition, and morally troubling mentorship in an intimate character-driven drama
The Piano Teacher
shared psychological unease, ambiguous ethics, and a central performance built around escalating fixation
Whiplash
shared focus on artistic aspiration, emotional repression, and relationships distorted by unequal power
Queen of Earth
shared uncomfortable portrait of female desire, alienation, and self-invention within a tightly observed social world
Movie Details
- Director
- Sara Colangelo
- Release Date
- 2018-09-23
- Runtime
- 96 min
- Rating
- 6.5 / 10 (405)
Cast
- Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Parker Sevak
- Gael García Bernal
- Michael Chernus
- Rosa Salazar
- Ajay Naidu
- Anna Baryshnikov
- Daisy Tahan
- Sam Jules
- Samrat Chakrabarti
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Kindergarten Teacher about?
- A New York kindergarten teacher’s reverence for a young student’s poetry curdles into an unsettling struggle over talent, control, and personal purpose.
- What is The Kindergarten Teacher like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Kindergarten Teacher as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Kindergarten Teacher violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in The Kindergarten Teacher.
- What did critics think of The Kindergarten Teacher?
- Critics broadly praised the film as a psychologically unsettling American remake elevated by Maggie Gyllenhaal's bravura lead performance.
- Which films are like The Kindergarten Teacher?
- Films with a similar feel include Notes on a Scandal, The Piano Teacher, Whiplash, and Queen of Earth.
- How long is The Kindergarten Teacher?
- The Kindergarten Teacher runs 96 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Kindergarten Teacher?
- In United States, The Kindergarten Teacher streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
