FROM 20 Aug
Marianne Woods (Clare Dunne) and Jane Pirie (Flora Nicholson) run a private girls’ school and are thrilled, if a little nervous, by the financial and social coup of having three granddaughters of the imperious Lady Cumming Gordon (Fiona Shaw) enrol.
One of the girls, Jane Cumming (Mia Tharia), is of mixed race – her father was married to an Indian woman. Jane is bullied and mocked by the white girls, so finds it easier to spend time with the two teachers who are made a little uneasy, sensing that their leniency and kindliness could backfire.
When the teachers start treating her with more professional distance, Jane concocts a story, based on some truth, that morphs into a situation that cannot be undone.
Fiona Shaw plays Lady Cumming Gordon with impressive grandeur, but it is young Mia Tharia who is the highlight here in a tricky role to get right… and she certainly has. You may have seen William Wyler’s ‘The Children’s Hour’ (1961) with Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn which was based on this true story.
