Is it indeed about ... (SPOILERS)

When I saw this in a film festival, the director was there to answer questions from the audience - she said that for example in the scene where the girls dance for the darkened audience, many viewers only see the male figures in the darkness (and thus see it as a show that dirty old men come to watch, to see underage girls) - however, there was also women in the audience when they filmed it.

I didn't see the film as a story about pedophilia and judging from the comments of the director, she didn't really mean that - but you do have a point and I think it just goes to show that Innocence is open for many different interpretations.

I feel inclined to add my two cents: as far as the whole prostitution thing, one can't ignore that ballerinas were commonly associated with prostitution, especially in 19th-century france (think of degas). my guess is that the director has to be at least aware that the audience might make that connection, even if she does not want to imply that the girls become prostitutes per se. she definitely creates that possibility through the references to dance and the parallels between the little girls in ballet costume and some of degas' work (at least in my opinion). there is also the sense that there are male patrons of the dancers/students (the man in the balcony), even while there are also females in the audience. the females certainly don't call out, "tu es la plus belle!"

I was really unsatisfied with the film at first, and still don't think it's outstanding, BUT, a friend who also saw it granted me this perspective, which helped me to gain an appreciation for it: the whole story is told from the POV of a small child, and the POV of the audience is limited to that of a small child. in childhood, one observes many curious things that are never explained (the girl getting the shot), and one has many questions that are never answered (what happened to the little girl who escaped). the POV is relentlessly loyal to the little girls, and I think that's what is ultimately so frustrating for adult viewers of the film. we want an omniscient narrator or POV to follow alice (I think it was alice-- the girl with the blue ribbon) after she escapes so we know what happens to her. but the teacher told us (the students) that we'll never see her again, and indeed we don't. we'd like to know why the girls arrive in coffins, but as the girls themselves don't know, neither shall the audience.

this analysis doesn't make the film any less frustrating to watch, but perhaps explains things a bit...? thoughts?

I think that the film gives you what it says on the box... Innocence.

To me the school symbolises innocense. There are no men, only little girls who do nothing but play and laugh and swim and dance. The only adults are somehow crippled (either physically or emotionally in the case of the two teachers) or have the facelessness and lack of identity of the old (the "Mothers"). There is a clear path out of the school but there are no real authority figures to guide you... you just go with the flow and eventually you get there... if you don't follow the right path you're somehow forced to stay in the school for ever, like someone who's natural psychological development is somehow hampered.

The early shots of the girls swimming and playing have a real feel to them of giving the audience a sight into some hidden world where they're not really allowed and certainly don't belong. As an adult male I was very aware of the fact that I *shouldn't* be looking at a DVD full of little girls running around in their underwear and yet the film itself is almost completely sexless. The children run around with no fear of being preyed upon.

Occasionally a girl wants too much to leave the safety of the school and she is not allowed back and is never spoken of again. Once you leave a state of innocense you can't re-enter it and you will for ever be estranged from those still in the state.

For me the final third of the film is the most revealing. Once the girls reach a certain age they can be seen by people on the outside. People notice them and single them out. When Bianca leaves the school it coincides with her looking at a picture of a naked male statue and literallly putting on the gloves of someone from outside the school and touching herself. Almost as though she is trying on what it is to be touched by someone on the outside.

At the end the girls are guided out through tunnels known to other adult women and into the sunshine of a completely different world. The girls are faced with a fountain and initially sit by it, but Bianca is the first to dive in and play with a boy. The world of adullts and adult sexuallity beckons.

The reason why it's easy for us to feel that this is all about paedophiles is because we are adults, we know about sex and it infects us. When we see innocence we see only innocence in a sexual context, something that can be stripped away by the unwanted hands of the paedophile. But that is only one way that innocence can be lost. We look at the film and see children groomed for adult sexuality because that is what childhood is. From the second we are born we are are set on a path of developmment and learning that culminnates only with us attaining adulthood, reproducing and starting the cycle again with our own generation of children.

We look at this film and see grooming because ultimately growing up is about grooming children for sex and reporduction.

This film is superb, it gives you exactly what it says on the tin... innocence.

I've just watched the film and my first thoughts when it finished were "OMG I don't get it". But obviously I thought of all of the same things that other people have mentioned. Eg Why did they arrive in coffins, what happened to the girl who escaped, and what did they go on to do, but I believe the film is symbolic and a lot more simple than maybe I'm trying to make it.

Its obvious that the whole coffin thing is tied to the butterfly theory, and they are manipulated to be scared of the outside world because those older know that once they come into contact with it, their innocence will be lost. It shows an ever moving cycle of life, where we start off as they appear (all dressed in white to show purity) and gradually get glimpses of other aspects of life as we get older (thus bit by bit changing us and getting rid of that innocence). I did feel it had a slightly victorian approach to growing up, and the way they approached the subject of a girl reaching puberty and starting to menstruate was a bit scary if I'm honest. It did capture how confusing that time can be, and it did capture how out of the blue it all comes but it drifted for me. The whole film drifted with so many unanswered questions that it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Not because it was BAD as such, but if you get a handful of unanswered questions from a film you think about it, and the more you think about it the more theories you come up with, and the more you get from the film. But too many questions and it leaves big gaps and holes in the plot.

You could say that the girl who got in the boat to try to escape, was doing as some of us do in real life, and fumbling around trying to find answers and alternatives when things aren't as we like. Some of us take the wrong path and fate isn't kind. Some of us come to conclusions about life, have a life changing thought and take flight and feel set free (I wonder whether Alice climbed the wall, escaped and found freedom and happiness?)

But there are so many "What if..."'s that the holes are too gaping for me. I found it very slow (which probably was appropriate to the style of film), and at times I was stuck thinking more socialistic thoughts such as "Is French society so different to ours?".

I thought this because I commented to the person I was watching the film with, that in England a film such as this would probably never have got past the censorship commitees because of the nature of it and the way the children were portrayed. Innocent - YES, but one can't help think of the type of person who might get a kick from watching the film for the wrong reasons. And that in itself is indicative of the way the world is headed, because when someone sits there and thinks of that while watching this sort of film it makes it obvious that its a common worry.

I came up with many theories throughout the film and by the end I was just as unsure as when I'd started. There were comments about the girls looking after their legs and needing to know how to use them for their own good when they left school. There was the comment made by the man in the audience about the girl being the prettiest out of all of them. Something about that left a funny taste in my mouth. Something slightly creepy.

I'd like to believe that the film was purely about innocence and the wall was a metaphor for children being protected from outside influences when young. I'd like to think that the dancing was because it was pretty and showed how innocent they were, and I'd like to believe that the progression (the ribbons) for the girls was just to signify getting older. You see a child of around 5 or 6 waking up, and making friends and experiencing new things, and beginning to question things, and you see someone older crossing the boundary of puberty and leaving school and seeing a boy in the fountain (first glimpse of life as it may be for the rest of her life). Progression and growing up, loss of innocence etc. I'd like to think thats all its about but there are predatory undertones.

i would like to add that in my opinion it is about being a captive. all the butterfly-scenes suggest it. the girls are kept in cages, at the dubious school as well as on the outside, by the fountain. they just proceed from cage to cage.
and that's what speaks for it being a feminist film (with a rather pessimistic undertone though): women are 'bred' to become beautiful and to amuse 'the audience', they are meant for the 'stage'. later on they amuse men. they do so to reproduce. this is the activity they are limited to (in life as well as in film, in patriarchaic cultures).
what seems irritating to me is the last scene (which could have been left out i think): throughout the whole film the director makes us believe that the girls are kept away from boys for years. how come bianca reacts in such a natural, relaxed way when she sees the boy? i would have been in shock if i'd been kept away from male creatures for so long...!

The film give me the same feelings as many of you (I thing that was a tricky way to keep the audience attention), almost at the end (the subway) I thought this was a post-apocalyptical movie (you know, they are the choose ones to repopulate the earth) and then this just show up to be a “look what a think is the best way to educate children” movie.

And Yes, I think it is very Victorian, reactionary and wicked way to see this matter.

I just watched this movie. I have to say it is very beautiful. I don't understand why so many people think this is related with paedophilia. It is just a tale about childhood from the child's point of view. I admit its atmosphere is quite sinister and expecting a kid to be happy in a place where rules look like rules from a prison is nonsense, but this has nothing to do with paedophilia. In fact, I have read a lot of those comments and from the start I was reading between lines to see where was the connection. The movie is full of symbolism. All French movies are like this. Unfortunatelly, when a movie is so open to different interpretations there are always people who find the meaning they have in mind, most of the times not the meaning the director gave it.

Nowadays lots of people (especially from US) are kinda paranoic when they see little kids in movies, magazines, internet, etc. They automatically think about paedophilia, children exploited, etc. People see the word "innocence" and say "Oh, you are being ironic, right? You mean lost innocence!" So if someone tells me "What a beautiful daugther you have!" I have to think automatically that person is a pedo and will hurt my kid.

Come on. Stop thinking that way and enjoy the life. Not everything in life is black.

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