EXTRA GEOGRAPHY (Sundance FF 2026) – Review by Sherin Nicole
From the very first moments in the classrooms of Extra Geography, we realize that Minna and Flic (Galaxie Clear and Marni Duggan) want desperately to be in sync; they slow down or speed up to match each other’s pace, but they are already slightly out of rhythm. They don’t know this, but with personality quirks and sharp dialogue, director Molly Manners ensures we do. Those little seeds reveal Minna and Flic’s suppressed individuality, growing into tension in this comedy of Manners’.
When our delulu duo decides they need a new summer project, they choose the challenge of falling in love. It’s a purely academic pursuit. Their target is scientifically pinpointed by picking the first person they see in the dining hall. A moment that proves one of them is far more self-aware than the other. From there, Extra Geography joins cinematic classmates: Cruel Intentions, Clueless, and 10 Things I Hate About You. And just as 10 Things I Hate About You is a take on the Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare’s comedies are a fitting comparison because a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is central to this film’s plot. However, more central is Minna and Flic’s geography teacher (Alice Englert)—the chosen object of their love experiment. If that sounds like a riddle, allow me to add footnotes to this 5-act play without spoiling the ending.
Like the three movies I mentioned above, our two leads are a pretentious pair who never bother to question their right to manipulate others. They play with classmates and teachers, making bets and congratulating themselves on the outcomes. Until their differences erupt when one of them is chosen, the other is not. Those first clear differences between them widen the gap that was originally imperceptible. And when a visiting group of boys comes over as actors in the drama, turnabout becomes fair play.
Written by Miriam Battye from a short story by Rose Tremain, Extra Geography is a gleefully glib English boarding school satire that tumbles down a tangled path. I could wish the split between sides wasn’t so clearly a matter of beauty versus brains, but Minna and Flic are sharply rendered in their insecurities and burgeoning desires. And when those things come into conflict, their delusions shatter—leaving them to fight the growing pains of disappointment and competition that come from their awakening individuality. The quest to be both understood and accepted can be fraught, but in Extra Geography, Minna and Flic learn it’s totally worth it—unless too much remains unspoken.
Brava, Manners and Battye. Brava, Clear and Duggan.
