Innocence is Bliss

A black screen. A low, rumbling sound, steadily increasing in volume. Flickering, slightly blurred credits (end credits, in fact), as in a long lost silent film. Violently bubbling water, underground brick-walled passageways, a lush forest. A child-sized coffin rests on a wooden floor while a Prokofiev melody fills the air. Little legs from beneath the hems of pleated white skirts appear in frame, surrounding the coffin. If one were to compile a list of "greatest first five minutes", Lucile Hadzihalilovic's Innocence deserves a place on it. This is jaw-dropping stuff, and a perfect introduction to this surreal realm of prepubescent girls and the dreamlike world they inhabit. Based on the short story Mine-Haha, Or the Corporal Education of Young Girls by German playwright Frank Wedekind, Innocence is unlike any film you've seen before. The setting is a mysterious girl's school buried deep within a forest, surrounded by a gateless wall. The girls range from about six to twelve, and are ranked in each house by age, which is signified by the color of their hair ribbons. Though there are a few adult overseers, they are little more than servants. There are strict rules, but the girls seem to govern themselves. That we learn very little about the school is more than a bit disconcerting. Other than natural science and biology, the only other study is ballet. The girls spend most of their time at play -- swimming in the lake or frolicking on the grass -- quite contented, but why are they there in the first place, and why can they never leave? The girls are clearly being prepared for womanhood, but to what end? The comments and treatment they receive from the teachers and headmistress can be taken as either genuine concern or harsh cynicism. Are they simply preparing these girls for reproduction? These ambiguities -- these unanswered questions -- create a wonderful sense of tension and anxiety that never lets up. There isn't a shred of irony in the film's title, and Hadzihalilovic has truly succeeded in capturing the innocence of young girls in the years leading up to adolescence. Their world is one entirely without males, which raises all sorts of interesting questions -- is Hadzihalilovic implying that masculine dominance (or mere presence) inhibits the natural, instinctual development of young women? Are the freedoms afforded them here impossible in the real world? But will girls raised in this manner be prepared for life outside the school? The film's delicate subject matter, combined with the occasional nude scenes, has already given rise to a fair amount of controversy. Yet most of this is groundless -- any prurient thoughts that arise say more about the viewer than the director or her intentions. There is nothing remotely sexual about the nudity, and it's quite aggravating to read critics, who with a wave of their reductive hand, can claim the film to be little more than a treat for pedophiles. Doing so, however, provides them with an out -- a means of avoiding any serious consideration of the film. (Much like the cry of 'fanboy' does for Asian films.) That said, Hadzihalilovic is perhaps guilty of slight provocation. As the wife (and former editor) of Gaspar Noé (to whom the film is dedicated), this hardly seems surprising. Though she must have known that the often voyeuristic gaze of the camera would no doubt incense some, her motivation was not to shock and/or be controversial. She's clearly very attached to the story (parable is more like it), and remains uncompromising from start to finish. Quite a feat for a first feature. From its disturbing opening all the way to its enigmatic conclusion, Innocence is a daring, brave, wholly original film that can be described as an almost somnambulistic experience -- and one that lingers for days.

Comments

[Aaron Hillis]

Jolly good for you in defending what has predictably been attacked by the lazy (addressing Slant.com and others' I-ain't-touchin-that dismissals of pedophilia: I, like you Filmbrain, interpreted "using your legs in the real world" to be an obvious dual meaning of dancing/sex, depending on the viewer's discomfort. The lack of sexuality was used as an audience manipulator to provoke haunting tension a la Picnic at Hanging Rock, yet so many fell for the bait-and-switch of faux empty-provocateurism. Sigh.)...

...and hypocritical (NYTimes' Manohla disappoints. To show respect to the difference between art and exploitation, then deny the film its right to artful interpretation because it isn't all-encompassingly feminist enough is weak enough, but the Amy Heckerling comparison?! That's like saying Bruno Dumont could learn sensitivity of the human condition from the Farrellys).

Innocence is rich in dimensionality and straddles perceptions as delicately as a champion lumberjack in a log-rolling contest. May your positive review put more asses in seats at Cinema Village, this one definitely deserves the attention.

[Nadia M.]

Filmbrain:

The film caused a stir here in France as well, with some calling it "un film de gros pervers" and other similar attacks. Interesting that most of them came from male critics. I agree with you that those who said "pédophilie" are those having guilt from their reaction.

[phyrephox]

I saw this about six months ago and don't have the sharpest perception, but I remember thinking that Hadzihalilovic had a terrific premise (and what an opening, as FB rightly praises!) and a lovely aesthetic but is generally bankrupt in terms of story. I don't see much of the originality in the girls or their little character arcs, all I see that is different is the wonderful ambiguity Hadzihalilovic's setup gives the education and maturation of little girls, with eerie shades of menace, threat, and beauty at every stage.

[la_depressionada]

do they all go on to wellesley?

[ZTT]

Innocence? Nonsense!

[Pacze Moj]

The reaction to 'Innocence' reminds me a bit of the critical fascination with the "incestuous homoeroticism" in Sokurov's 'Father and Son'. It seems when a film has (or is thought to have) certain taboo elements, it suddenly becomes fully about those taboo elements.

[Mikko Pihkoluoma]

phyrephox is complaining for the lack of story, when to me that is one of the greatest accomplisments of the film. That it manages to go through (a sequence of) events and emotions that have meaning, but yet the film avoids any compromising and formulaic narrative elements. It's more like music than mere illustrated text. It's like the female pre-teen equivalent to Eraserhead. And yet even that description doesn't quite grasp its originality.

When Hadzihalilovic was visiting Helsinki about five weeks ago she told some revealing things about the film. She had shown the film to young girls in presence of their parents. Most of these girls had a positive reaction to it, and thought it "was like life is"; whereas their fathers were often asking "but don't you think it was still a little bit weird?"

Hadzihalilovic was (obviously) very reluctant to give away any answers. She had meant the film to be an open experience, something personal to the viewer - very much like her first experience when reading the short story. But she did provide some reactions she had heard, and offered some possible interpretations. The one that I remember the best was how obviously for women in general it is much more easier to identify with the characters, and for men it becomes more about how you look at the film and the girls, which explains the "it's perverse!"-reactions already mentioned by filmbrain and others. She told that many people found the dance for the audience implying pedophilia and what not, and to that she offered "maybe they're parents?" Overall she was trying to defend the position that the "horror elements" in the film, and the general anxiety and mystery over everything was perhaps anxiety within the girls; anxiety of growing up etc... She also said that while making the film she occasionally tried to remember how it felt like to be in that age period, and only hoped that to some, or one level, the film was transmitting that.

She also talked a lot about how she worked with the kids, and where she found them. I think the only qualification when searching the girls was that they had at least some experience with ballet or dancing. She also noted that it was usually easier to get natural reactions from the younger ones, since the older ones were usually more self-aware and weren't so much "into character".

She was very down to earth and sort of shy... Very nice anyway. I hope I didn't misrepresent her words, and I hope this is illuminating to some at least.

[phyrephox]

I suppose I misworded what I meant. I did not mean to imply the film had no story, but rather the stories in it were trite and common for the setting, and it was only the atmosphere and the intrusions of the overarching concept of the school that kept the film interesting. The girls as archetypes are one thing; their stories at school and growing up as archetypes another, but using them both I found left the film very hollow.

[Mikko Pihkoluoma]

I'm not so sure the stories matter in this film to begin with. Whether or not it has stories, trite or realistic, it doesn't matter. I think you're putting too much emphasis on the story level, as if that should have been the most meaningful level of the film.

What I love about the film (and this type of filmmaking in general, one that emphasises abstract emotions) is that it manages to do so much more than merely "translate" literature by using a story to create meaning. I haven't read the short story the film is based on, but the resulting film is a very non-literate experience (well, at least compared to 99,9% of films). The strength of Hadzihalilovic's film is that she relies on her cinematic abilities. On her ability to create mood through the breathtakingly original imagery and sounds.

In a sense, then the stories are secondary to her. You could even say she made the stories in it mundane and predictable enough in order to emphasize the atmosphere of the film. This is original filmmaking. Not how we've used to read and understand films. It seems to me you were expecting more meaning on a level that was never meant to have that strong of a meaning.

[La Dauphine]

I can't wait to see this film. Apparently the director is 'partners' with Gaspar Noe and her work is similarly intense but manifests very differently. A blogger called Piu Piu of Ten Minutes Older has interviewed this director for Flimwaves Magazine, in case you're curious to check her blog out. Great review.

[Philip Ward]

You may be interested to know that the first-ever English translation of Mine-Haha, the story on which the film is based, is due for publication by Hesperus Press, London, in October 2009.