Class troublemaker Danny causes big problems at school – until teacher Maria accidentally locks him in her basement one day and discovers that the other students are suddenly starting to flourish.
That's the story in Jonatan Etzler's dark school satire "Bad Apples", which had its Scandinavian premiere during the Gothenburg Film Festival.
He both started and finished the project – which is based on Rasmus Lindgren's novel "The Unwanted" – in Sweden. But when it came time to hunt for funding, things came to a standstill.
"I was met with a lot of concern and the question, 'Does she really have to lock him in the basement?'" says Jonatan Etzler.
The Swede, who studied film directing at the Stockholm University of the Arts and won a student Oscar for his graduation film in 2018, however, had a British agent as a last resort.
And in England the reception was completely different.
Lock in more?
At that time, four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan had also agreed to play the lead role.
"She got in touch a week after she got the script and wanted to meet. She thought it would be really fun to lock a guy in her basement," says Jonatan Etzler.
"No one there wanted to tone down the film. Rather, they asked if she couldn't lock up more people."
The Swedish anxiety is at least partly due to a lack of resources, he believes.
"We have a government that claims to truly protect Swedish culture, but they don't seem to want to invest money in it."
"New fears"
Jonatan Etzler draws the story of "Bad Apples" with a twinkle in his eye. But at the same time, he believes the different attitudes towards the locked-up boy are symptomatic.
"I want to be clear that I don't think children should be locked up either. But as I said, there is a sense of anxiety in Sweden," he says.
"My experience of developing film in Sweden is that the project has to pass through so many rooms and in each room new fears are projected onto the film."
"Bad Apples" had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last year and has since also competed in San Sebastián, Spain, and in London.
Etzler now hopes that the film will open doors for him at home as well.
"It obviously opens doors abroad as well. But this is where I live and it is this culture that I can portray best," he says.
Born in 1988.
Lives: Stockholm.
Occupation: Director.
Background: Educated in film directing at Stockholm University of the Arts. Received a student Oscar in 2018 for his graduation film "Get Ready with Me".
Feature films: "One More Time" (Netflix, 2023) starring Hedda Stiernstedt.
"Bad Apples" (2025), a school satire starring Saoirse Ronan, had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last year and its Scandinavian premiere during the ongoing Gothenburg Film Festival.
