Synopsis
At an unusual private school for girls, new students, including young Iris, show up in coffins. The establishment's teachers, Mademoiselle Eva and Mademoiselle Edith, introduce Iris and her fellow pupils to the school's curriculum, which includes fairy-like dances through a nearby forest. When night falls, the older girls, who are on the threshold of womanhood, are then given mysterious, life-changing lessons.
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Cast
- Zoé AuclairIris
- Lea BridarolliAlice
- Bérangère HaubrugeBianca
- Marion CotillardMademoiselle Eva
- Hélène de FougerollesMademoiselle Edith
- Olga Peytavi-MüllerLaura
- Alisson LalieuxSelma
- Anna Palomo-DíazNadja
- Astrid HommeRose
- Joséphine Van WambekeVera
Recommendations
- 100
TV Guide Magazine
Hadzihalilovic succeeds brilliantly at crafting a meaningful enigma that somehow grasps the essence of adolescence, but only grows more mysterious with each revelation. - 100
New York Post
One of the oddest, most perplexing -- and delightful -- films to come along this year. And last year, too. - 90
Village Voice
Innocence is not merely the year's best first film, but one of the great statements on the politics of being 'tween. - 80
Variety
This genuine curio maintains its mystery to the end. - 80
The New York Times
The line between cinematic art and exploitation has rarely seemed finer and nervier, at least in recent memory, than in the French film Innocence. - 80
Salon
This is the weirdest film I've seen all year, or at least the weirdest good film. It's also among the most powerful. - 75
New York Daily News
A visually lush and eerily enigmatic parable of female sexuality, Lucile Hadzihalilovic's ominous fairy tale raises questions you'll be wondering about for days. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Sustains a pervasive feeling of anxiety and suspense, despite an absence of dramatic conflict or resolution.
