Set in the 1930s in a strict eliteBritishboarding school called St Mathilda's, the story centres on a clique of girls who idolise their enigmatic diving instructor, Miss G . Di Radfield has a crush on Miss G, and is the firm favourite and ringleader of her group. When a beautiful Spanish girl named Fiamma Corona arrives at the school, Miss G's focus is shifted away from the other girls. It becomes a triangle: Miss G gets increasingly obsessed with Fiamma, Fiamma is disturbed by Miss G and also openly disgusted by the teacher's hypocrisies and deceptions, and Di is terribly jealous and makes Fiamma's life hell. In a very telling scene in the film that clearly highlighted Miss G's deceptions, Miss G goes to a nearby parochial town to buy some provisions. She is visibly upset by this trip and after buying her provisions and drawing the unwanted attention of some local louts, she returns to the school in, it would seem, a near panic. The bullying culminates in Di physically throwing Fiamma out of the school but, as she is unable to return to Spain as she hoped, Fiamma ends up back at the school later that night. When Fiamma is eventually found, the two girls make the first steps towards friendship, and at the following dorm party they all get a bit drunk, and Fiamma faints. Miss G takes her to her own room. Then Miss G kisses her and rapes her while she is passed out; Di witnesses this through the room door, which was left ajar, and then flees. The next morning, Fiamma is visibly upset, and Miss G is equally distressed as she runs around after her. Di is broody, and eventually tells the rest of her gang that Fiamma seduced Miss G. Fiamma presumably tells Miss G that she will report the molestation to the teachers, and horrified, Miss G realises her career will be over. She in turn manipulates Di's affection for her into anger. She says that Fiamma will make up lies about her molesting her and plans to get her kicked out of school. Di absolutely refuses to allow this to happen. The confrontation between Di's gang and Fiamma turns ugly as Fiamma declines to answer Di's vicious questions and tries to explain what really happened, hinting at Miss G's lies and character defects. Fiamma runs into the forest as things become more violent, but the girls catch up with her and, under Di's leadership, beat her with their sticks and fists. Fiamma starts to have an asthma attack, and the girls stop, terrified. They run to get help, and Di runs into Miss G, who says she'll stay with Fiamma, and directs Di to go get a teacher. In the forest, Miss G, alone with Fiamma, refuses to give Fiamma her inhaler and calmly watches her die. Di returns just in time to see Miss G placing the inhaler in Fiamma's lifeless hand, realizing the truth. Later, Di tells the other girls what happened and, united, they confront Miss G. They are powerless officially, but they quit the diving team and symbolically turn in their sashes. The headmistress refuses to acknowledge the school's culpability, and seems only concerned with the school's reputation, but releases Miss G from her duties. The final scene has Di leaving the school to explore the world, as both Fiamma and Miss G had spoken of doing, whilst Miss G, fired from the school, goes to the local village and finds a small room she can live in, presumably closing herself away for the rest of her life. In a scene that perhaps allows the viewer a better understanding of Miss G's very complex personality, we see her put her few personal possessions on her bedside table. She puts one item there and then quickly removes it to make room for another item. After that, she counts the items to make sure that there are only five. The viewer is then reminded that when Fiamma arrived at the school, in the dorm room, Di had told her that only five personal items could be displayed on her night table at one time. The audience then realises Miss G is as much a victim of the institutionalised setting she grew up in as Fiamma was her victim.
Cracks received a mixed reception from critics. It has a score of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 47 critic reviews. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 54 out of 100 based on 12 critic reviews.
