Insightful questions into the movie, may be

1) Unknown, but definitely not likely to be the father of Teresa.

2) A lot of money.

3) Yes.

4) Irene was trying to prevent Teresa's escape, since she was infatuated or in love with her (take your pick).

5) Irene hazes Teresa to bring her under sexual dominance. There is no relationship between Irene and Luis, and one must assume Irene knew Luis was off-limits if she wanted to keep her position as Forneau's enforcer.


6)One must assume the sole purpose of Luis amorous moves towards Isabelle and Teresa was simply a ruse to gain their trust to be able draw them to an area of the school grounds where he could dispatch them without being observed.

1. He was a friend of Teresa's mother, the latter being a singer at a cabaret (and possibly a prostitute, at least according to mean girl Irene).

2. Three hundred francs in 1900 would be equal to about $1750-$1800 today.

3. There isn't any overt indication that the headmistress and the rebellious student were lesbian lovers. The girl was being unruly in class, so Sra. Fourneau had her punished until she was penitent. After the flogging, Fourneau kisses her on the back and says "I cannot allow anyone to defy me -- not even you" because she was the teacher's pet (at least formerly), which is what prompted the girl into thinking she could rebel and get away with it. Furthermore, there was nothing in her angry verbiage to suggest the two had a sapphic relationship. She just says "Go to hell!" Needless to say, being a teacher's pet isn't the same as being a lesbian lover.

4. Irene was Fourneau's student-enforcer, her protégé, and she knew Teresa was planning to escape that night; so she kept a watch on the gate since it was impossible to climb over the wall.

5. Irene hazes Teresa, but it was simply a matter of establishing her dominance over the new student. I didn't see any evidence of sapphic desire. Remember, Irene would work out arrangements for obedient girls to go out to the woodhouse to meet with the woodcutter, the only young male they had access to, disregarding Luis. Clearly, the girls were interested in men, not women, although some viewers say that this wasn't the case with Irene, which -- they argue -- is supported by the paintings in her hideaway. As the headmistress' enforcer, Irene naturally kept tabs on girls slipping away to meet with Luis, who was off-limits. In short, it was part of her "job" and had zero to do with saphhic jealousy, as far as I could tell.

Keep in mind that contemporary Euro horror flicks had no problem displaying overt lesbianism, as observed in "The Vampire Lovers" and, shortly later, "The Devil's Nightmare."

6. It's possible that Luis deceptively seduced girls for their body parts; it's also possible that Luis suffered a psychosis akin to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in which his diabolical persona would take over. His sincere, innocuous demeanor when spending time with his girlfriends in secret suggests the latter.