Innocence (2004/II)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Lucile Hadzihalilovic

Writers:

Lucile Hadzihalilovic (writer)
Frank Wedekind (novella)

Release Date:

12 January 2005 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Plot:

A look inside an offbeat boarding school for young girls. |

Plot Keywords:

Coming Of Age | Coffin | Oddity | Boarding School | Dance Recital

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Zoé Auclair	...	Iris
Bérangère Haubruge	...	Bianca
Lea Bridarolli	...	Alice
Marion Cotillard	...	Mademoiselle Eva
Hélène de Fougerolles	...	Mademoiselle Edith
Alisson Lalieux	...	Selma
Astrid Homme	...	Rose
Ana Palomo-Diaz	...	Nadja
Olga Peytavi-Müller	...	Laura
Joséphine Van Wambeke	...	Vera
Véronique Nordey	...	Chateau Attendant
Johanna Surbier	...	Fanny
Corinne Marchand	...	Headmistress
Sonia Petrovna	...	Headmistress's Assistant
Micheline Hadzihalilovic	...	Madeleine

Also Known As:

École, L' (France) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual content and brief nudity involving a minor.

Runtime:

122 min | Argentina:115 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Belgium | France | UK

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Brazil:14 | USA:R | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Japan:PG-12 | Argentina:13 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Belgium

Company:

Ex Nihilo

Soundtrack:

Return to Misty Mountain

Oddity.

Reading a lot of the interesting comments people have made about this film, it's obvious most didn't understand it.I admit this includes me. I enjoy an original idea for a movie, one that makes you think, but if it is too obscure surely that defeats the object? A lot of the comments mention paedophiles, an overused word that's fashionable at the moment.I'm a bloke but ye Gods, these were tiny little girls and not sexual. Someone mentioned the bathing and said they were uncomfortable with it. Nobody was nude! If a scene such as this makes a person less than happy, I suggest it says a lot about that person's mind. David Hamilton's 'Bilitis' has a scene where a group of schoolgirls strip off and go gamboling in the sea, that is certainly done, (in my view) to titillate. Innocence isn't at all like that. Europeans such as the French and Germans have, it seems to me, a lot healthier attitude to sex than either the Brits' or the US who tend to look for an ulterior motive in anything. Having said that- There is an interview with director Lucile Hadzihalilovic on the DVD, in it she mentions words to describe the movie, such as paradise, prison, nature, appealing and interesting.She says the film is essentially sensual and a claustrophobic universe. Also says that there is no violence and nothing offensive in it. It interested me to hear her say that women would identify with it easier than men, as their own view of young girls will be evoked. For some that may be problematic, for others, not at all. Read in that what you will chaps. There are few sights more pleasurable than a happy female, (of any age.) I remember an old saying, - 'Little girls, like butterflies, need no excuse.'