Ronan plays Maria, a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 11-year-olds but unable to because of one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child’s behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this "bad apple” in her home. She tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.

Swedish-born Etzler fuses caustic Nordic humour with genre elements, asking questions, both timeless and timely, and always discomfiting. Just how far (or low) will we go to preserve harmony, and how quickly can our core values be abandoned? Sharp-witted and very funny, Bad Apples may prove to be one of the year's most talked-about films.