Innocence

A NEW girl is introduced to the campus in "Innocence."

‘Innocence’ elusive, symbolic film

WEEKENDER for Nov. 7, 2008
If you are looking for “Innocence,” that is a movie by that title, you will discover a host of diverse films, dating from 1913.
This 2004 film by that name is part “The Prisoner” (the 60s British TV series), “Lord of the Flies” and “The Cider House Rules,” but then again, it is none of these.
This all takes place in a boarding school for young girls, located somewhere, in some time period.
If you like movies where all is explained to you, this probably isn’t for you.
Directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic, it stars Zoe Auclair and Laisson Lalieux in a tale of childhood on a school campus with high walls, days of swimming and playing and a concentration on following the rules.
We never see these girls in a classroom.
The film starts with what looks like a coffin. One girl walks into the room wearing a white dress and stands beside the coffin. Another girl, wearing the same type of dress, walks in and stands with her. Then another and another and another.
When they open the coffin, there is a young girl (Auclair), maybe 6, lying there. She opens her eyes and climbs out. While she asks where her younger brother is, she is told she will never see him again. It appears the life process has reversed. The girls are born into the school via a coffin and come alive.
As you can imagine, there is a great deal of symbolism in the film. Water is a big part. It brings life and it takes it away and helps with the girls’ transformations.
The girls all wear ribbons in their hair, the color dictated by their ages. The youngest wear red ribbons, the next group blue and the oldest, around 12, wear purple ones. They live in five big houses.
There are few adults around. Almost like “Peanuts,” it is the children who are the main focus.
One of the adults is Edith, played by Helene de Fougerolles. The school is surrounded by a high wall and Edith is crippled, making you think maybe she was a child there once who tried to escape.
Each year, a chosen older girl walks the long, forested but well light-path to another site each evening and returns home in the morning. When she leaves the school, another girl becomes the chosen one.
Meanwhile, the girls spend a lot of time learning dance routines, which they perform for money in their auditorium to a bunch of unseen men. This, we are told, is how the school is supported.
The film is ominous, sometimes a bit frightening and certainly unsettling, with its hinting of eroticism as the girls grow older. It is said to be based on an 1888 short story.
In some ways, it might be a microcosm of Victorian life. A girl is born, goes through changes as she grows, learns how to be female and is then paraded in front of men until she finds a partner.
See the film and discover your own take on the elusive picture.
Read past Viper columns at videoviper.blogspot.com

INNOCENCE
• Written by Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Frank Wedekind (novella)
• Directed by Hadzihalilovic
• Rated R for some sexual content and brief nudity involving a minor.
• Runtime: 122 minutes
• In French with English subtitles as an option
• 2 ½ stars out of 4