_{By: Amanda Guarragi}

In Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero, she explores faith and systemic issues. Mia Wasikowska plays Ms. Novak, a teacher who joins the stand of an international boarding school to teach a conscious eating class. She expresses that eating less will help improve their mental health and the environment. 

The conversations surrounding weight loss and improving mental health do not translate well. It’s interesting to see what Ms. Novak teaches these impressionable students. Hausner shows blind faith and conditioning from a young age through the students versus the parents who have gone through their upbringing and understand that something is wrong. 

The students all experience they’re eating disorders at different moments in the film. Whether it’s bulimia, fasting, or they don’t eat at all, there is only a certain amount of food they can eat. The students have had trouble studying and doing other assignments because of the lack of nutrition. Eating less doesn’t necessarily mean that they are feeding their body with proper nutrients. As someone who has struggled and has had a difficult relationship with dieting, this was unsettling to watch. Although it can be seen as a necessary film to show how damaging eating disorders can be. It’s more alarming how persuasive Ms. Novak’s guidelines for a healthy lifestyle are. 

Instead of Ms. Novak’s (Mia Wasikowska) intense delivery when teaching her students about having faith in the system being humorous because of the absurdity of her belief, it plays out too seriously. The students believe that Ms. Novak is hiding something. They see that she has an odd worldview and perspective on human existence. Without Wasikowska’s mysterious performance, the film wouldn’t have been as intriguing. 

It is a slow film and does overstay its welcome. Hausner brings forth conversations about the grey area of faith in a system that’s supposed to protect children and how much of an impact teachers can make on their students. It may not seem like a positive takeaway, considering what Ms. Novak puts her students through. But audiences can gain an appreciation for those teachers who care for their students by informing them properly so they can navigate life correctly.