Blue Jean

Georgia Oakley's first film is set in the north-east of England in the late eighties. Rosy McEwen plays Jean, a PE teacher and a lesbian, living through the period immediately after Thatcher's government brought in Section 28, which banned the promotion of homosexuality. The film's skill lies in treating the law not as a topic but as pressure. Nobody attacks Jean directly. There is only a wrong remark in the staff room, a look held too long in the gym, a silence on the telephone. Jean bleaches her hair, shortens what she says, splits her life in two, and the film shows that the real damage comes from the splitting. The hardest scene is the one where Jean chooses to distance herself from a pupil who is like her rather than protect her. The film does not forgive her, and it does not condemn her either. It screened at Venice in September 2022 and won the audience award in the Giornate degli Autori section, and took four prizes at the BIFAs. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet British drama that draws its tension from social pressure. Who it is not for: anyone wanting clear heroism or resolution.