First Trailer for Teacher Dark Comedy ‘Bad Apples’ with Saoirse Ronan

by Alex Billington
July 1, 2026
Source: YouTube

“You’re never gonna let me go, are you?” Paramount Pictures has unveiled the first official trailer for the film Bad Apples, a prickly and distinct dark comedy made by Swedish filmmaker Jonatan Etzler. This bad student satire premiered at at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival last year and earned some rave reviews from critics playing on the festival circuit – with stops at San Sebastian, London, and AFI Fest as well. Saoirse Ronan stars as a primary school teacher in the UK named Maria forced to take drastic action because of a foul-mouthed, violent student, and uncovers how communities will turn a blind eye to the most outrageous events to preserve harmony and their sense of safety. She makes a series of questionable decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this “bad apple”. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff & parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament. The film’s cast includes Jacob Anderson, Eddie Waller, Nia Brown, Rakie Ayola, Robert Emms, and Sean Glider. This looks really good, commenting on a tricky topic to discuss, showing both the good and bad sides of society and how we deal with “bad apples”. I really want to watch it.

Here’s the first official trailer for Jonatan Etzler’s film Bad Apples, direct from YouTube:

Intro via TIFF: “Saoirse Ronan plays Maria, an elementary teacher at a ritzy private school, whose class is plagued by the epic bad behaviour of one extremely foul mouthed and disruptive child, Danny. After he has a violent altercation with another student, Maria is forced to take action. And when Danny doesn’t show up for the next few days, she is shocked at how easily the parents accept his absence — and don’t want him back. As things spiral even further out of control, Maria is caught between her own bad choices, the utter lack of concern from her community, and the less-than-angelic behaviour of her other students.” Bad Apples is directed by the Swedish indie filmmaker Jonatan Etzler, director of the film One More Time and many other short films previously. The screenplay is written by Jess O’Kane; adapted from the novel by Rasmus Lindgren. Produced by Oskar Pimlott; co-produced by Benjamin Greenacre. This first premiered at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival last year and it also played at AFI Fest in the fall. The film opens in Europe in cinemas starting in September 2026 this fall. No final US release date set yet – stay tuned for updates. Any good?

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