Cuckoo DVD, 2009

In one of his darkest roles, Richard E. Grant plays an ageing professor obsessed with his star student, Polly (Laura Fraser). Polly is trapped in a dead-end job working for intrusive Professor Julius Greengrass. Her relationship with boyfriend Chapman is falling apart, and jealous sister Jimi rarely leaves her side. Polly turns to the one person she can trust - her boss, Julius. But Julius has a dark secret of his own. He wants Polly, and he’ll do anything to get her.

Using oppressive cinematography and a haunting soundtrack from BAFTA nominee Andrew Hewitt, writer/director Richard Bracewell, whose first film was the acclaimed low-budget comedy The Gigolos, carefully builds Polly's world, echoing her stressed and anxious state. Expertly played by Fraser, we feel Polly's sense of isolation as events unfold around her in this darkly atmospheric story of deception and intrigue.