MOVIE REVIEW: Cracks ****

On the one hand she has access to a whole wealth of movie making experience but on the other the pressure on her with her directorial debut must be immense.

After all she is coming from a family which has given us Alien, Blade Runner and True Romance amongst other classics.

So she gives us something completely different.

With Cracks she tells a story of competition and desire at an austere and remote boarding school.

An elite clique of girls – the members of a diving team – spend their time competing for the attention of their glamorous teacher Miss G (Eva Green).

But when their tranquil lives are disrupted by Fiamma (Maria Valverde), an exotic student from outside their boundaries of familiarity, everything gradually shatters through jealousy and lust.

It is a coming of age drama which works through the idea of the loss of innocence within the group of girls possessed by a feral pack mentality as the film progresses.

At its heart is the discussion of the capacity for good and evil within each of us and the extent to which human nature is influenced by surroundings and other people.

This is exemplified in Miss G, stunningly portrayed by Green, who is introduced as every girl’s dream teacher, bringing her fantasy world to life for her pupils.

But after Fiamma joins the school, Miss G's obsession with the teenager and the exotic world she inhabits gradually consumes her.

It is not long before the tightly knit group of girls gang up on Fiamma like a pack of wolves.

Juno Temple, in the role of Di, is affected most by the loss of innocence as she goes from being the team leader and Miss G's favourite to the realisation she is caught up in someone else's fantasy life.

Her infatuation only leads to a dark desperation as her world crashes in.

The relationship between her and Fiamma was intense and impressively acted by the two young cast members.

Within their youth there comes the idea they could be friends and united.

But Di's love for Miss G means they can only ever be enemies – diving into the affections of their teacher.

Similarly to her father's Blade Runner, in Cracks Jordan has succeeded in creating a believably real world which is complex and intelligent.

In doing so she takes a fresh look at the idea of what happens when an outsider disrupts a constructed world by diving under its surface to expose the cracks.

Cracks (15) is out in cinemas today.