After finding myself with a few hours spare one evening, I wasn’t in the mood for a big action packed multi million dollar epic and I went searching for a ‘gem’ and I found one. Blue Jean. Written and Directed by Georgia Oakley (her feature directorial debut) , Blue Jean takes us back to 1988, a time when here in the UK there were only four TV channels, the pictures was square, and the ruling Government led by Margaret Thatcher had recently enacted the section 28 law which forbid the “promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities in schools. 

Jean (brilliantly played by Rosy McEwen (Vesper, The Alienist)) is a physical education teacher in a north east England high school and is gay, stuck between two worlds in her role as school teacher she must  keep her sexuality secret or she will fall foul of the section 28 law and likely lose her job and yet when not in work Jean can be herself, she also has to watch out that her non work life doesn’t mix with her work life which isn’t an easy thing. Her girlfriend Viv (played by Kerrie Hayes) is understanding but you can see the frustration in Viv with Jean having to keep who she is a secret. 

Things get very tricky for Jean when one of her pupils Lois (played by Lucy Halliday) encounters her outside of work and the double life runs the risk of collapsing around her. Jean juggles the moral dilemma of how much to try and help Lois but also avoiding her own downfall due to the section 28 law.

Reading that plot synopsis might sound nowadays like its something out a dystopian tale, but that is what it was like in the UK only a few decades ago.  The film captures history perfectly and Blue Jean is definitely a film I would recommend. Its beautifully shot(by cinematographer Victor Seguin) , has a great soundtrack, and the cast are fantastic in their roles. I definitely recommend Blue Jean and I cant wait to see what director/writer Georgia Oakley has in store next.

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