A Teacher

The film opens with Diana Watts (Lindsay Burdge), a high school English teacher in suburban Texas. After school one day, Diana is out at a bar with her roommate, Sophia (Jennifer Prediger), who notices that Diana keeps texting someone named Eric. She teasingly asks Diana who he is and how she met him, to which Diana simply replies with a sly smile, "I met him at school." Later, Diana is shown waiting in her car. Another car pulls up, and Eric Tull (Will Brittain), one of her students, steps out. He gets in Diana's car, where they have sex before leaving separately.

In class, Diana and Eric try to behave normally in order to hide their relationship, aside from sneaking glances at each other and finding time after class to be alone. While Diana appears nervous at times that someone will catch them, she appears to be smitten with Eric and continues seeing him.

One day, some of the other teachers invite Diana to join them for a drink after school, but she declines, saying her brother is in town. It is revealed that her brother left her a voicemail to discuss their mother, and that she "can't keep avoiding this." She meets her brother, Hunter (Jonny Mars), but as soon as he brings up their mother's declining health, Diana becomes overwhelmed and leaves.

Some time later, Diana and Eric are in bed together when she tells him she's the happiest she has been in a long time. Back at home, Diana and Sophia discuss their plans for Thanksgiving. Sophia eagerly tells Diana that she wants to introduce her to some cute single men, Rich (Cody Haltom) and Dan (Matthew Genitempo), at a party. While Sophia is talking, Diana walks into the bathroom to take a topless photo to send to Eric. She later attends the party with Sophia and meets Rich and Dan, both of whom she finds uninteresting. She makes an excuse to leave the party early.

After the holiday break, Diana is eating lunch in the teacher's lounge when a fellow teacher named Jessica (Julie Phillips) tells her that a topless photo of a student has been going around the school. While Jessica laments how careless young teenagers can be, Diana realizes that the photo she sent Eric could be spread just as easily. She meets with Eric after school in the parking lot and asks him to delete the photo, which he does. Eric meets up with her on another occasion and tells her that a girl asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance. Diana becomes jealous, but Eric reassures her that it means nothing and he is only going with this girl so things do not seem suspicious.

Later on, Diana and Eric go on a weekend getaway at his family's ranch. The next morning, as they are having sex, the ranch foreman, James (Don Hampton), arrives at the property and, noticing Eric's car, knocks on the door. Diana rushes to hide in the bathroom while Eric speaks to James. After James has left, Diana is visibly shaken and asks a nonchalant Eric if James will tell his father. Eric tells her there is nothing to worry about but, unassured, Diana stresses to him that she could lose her job if they are found out. She tells him they should put their relationship on hold for a while and goes to the porch to be alone. Eric joins her and tries to seduce her, eventually getting rough and aggressive. She pushes him away angrily.

After they have returned to school, Diana asks Eric one day if they can talk after class. He comes to her classroom, where she confesses that she misses him and invites him to come over later. During the conversation, Jessica comes into the classroom and accidentally interrupts them. Diana tries to play it off as a school-related meeting.

Later, at her house, Diana and Eric begin having sex when she starts to act increasingly unstable. She goes from pushing him away, saying that what they are doing is wrong, to clinging to him and begging him to stay. Frustrated with her erratic behavior, Eric storms out right as Sophia is returning home. Sophia watches in shock as Diana desperately chases after Eric.

Diana immediately gets in her car and drives to Eric's house, where she sits outside in her car. When he doesn't pick up her calls, she calls his family's landline. Eric's father (Chris Doubek) answers and when she asks for Eric, he tells her it is late and, assuming she is a classmate, advises that she speak to him at school the next day. Diana then sneaks up to Eric's bedroom window to try to get him to speak with her. Eric begrudgingly goes outside, where she pleadingly tells him that they can "work through this" and that, since he will be attending college at the University of Texas the following year, they can "stay together." Eric rebuffs her advances and his father comes outside to check on him, causing Diana to run back to her car and leave.

She drives herself to a motel, and once she checks into a room, she checks her voicemail. She has received a message from a staff member at the school, telling her that there is an issue with one of her students, Eric Tull, whose father is at the school, and it is important that she call back immediately. The film ends with Diana curled up on the bed, crying as she realizes the repercussions of her actions.

A Teacher was premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2013,[7] and was subsequently screened at festivals such as SXSW Film Festival, Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival and Oldenburg International Film Festival.[8][9][10] It was acquired for U.S. distribution by Oscilloscope Laboratories.[11] In the Netherlands, it was distributed by Film1 Sundance Channel. The film was released in the United States through on video on demand on August 20, 2013, prior to being released in a limited release on September 6, 2013.[5][6]

The film was released in a limited release on September 6, 2013 and made $4,684 from 2 theaters, ranking #87 on the box office chart. The film went on to earn a total domestic gross of $8,348. The film's widest release was in 7 theaters.[1]

In February 2014, it was revealed that A Teacher would be adapted for television by HBO. Fidell would write and executive produce the series along with Danny Brocklehurst, the former showrunner of the UK television series Shameless.[12] In August 2018, it was announced Kate Mara would star in the series and serve as an executive producer, while Fidell would also direct the series, set up at FX instead of HBO.[13] The miniseries was released FX on Hulu from November 10, 2020 to December 29, 2020.

• Official website
• A Teacher at IMDb
• A Teacher at Rotten Tomatoes