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Innocence
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The worth of some films is evident from the strength and confidence of their opening moments, and Lucile Hadzihalilovic's astonishing Innocence (not be confused with Paul Cox's film of the same name) is a prime example. Freely based on Frank Wedekind's disquieting tale of the "physical education of young girls", it is an inspired blend of surrealism, shock-tactics, elegant perversity, social critique and the fractured fairy tales of the Female Gothic. Evoking an unlikely but wholly successful mix of The Virgin Suicides (1999), Irreversible (2002) and Goto, Island of Love (1968), it is a poetic and horrific modern classic. © Adrian Martin July 2005 |
