MovieChat Forums > Innocence (2005) Discussion > Is it indeed about ... (SPOILERS)

Is it indeed about ... (SPOILERS)

posted 19 years ago by nrjb
56 replies | jump to latest

I watched this today, in Amsterdam, and all the time I felt it had to do with pedophiles, or at least something concerning little girls being used by older men. The way the men are not shown fully, but very obscure, and the very suggestive way the other women are portrayed makes you think so. The director plays with the viewers ideas and thoughts, and in the end, there's this great anticlimax, going around every thought that popped up throughout the film. That bothered me. The logical conclusion I can jump to, is that there is this strange, private school for girls only, but that's pretty surreal, concerning the escapes and unhappiness amongst the girls.

Any ideas on the plot?

It is all,... an illusion

[–] ketone_of_sexiness 15 years ago

we could go on and on about this movie. I think that watching it with a dual perspective of literal and metaphorical will get the viewer a decent message. Viewing it too strongly on one side will result in alot of confusion.
I think it is about girlhood to womanhood. The scary/dark moments to me represented the adult world-I mean anytime the main character Iris got close to the main house at night, they busted out the creepy music. Why? Because the main house was the link, the portal, the connection to the adult world(as we see in the end of the film). Since Iris is nowhere near ready, it seems to be a frightening experience for her. Bianca and the older ones are not so afraid because they are slowly getting used to and exposed to the adult world througb their dancing and whatnot, so they aren't scared to walk around at night and follow the dimly lit path to adulthood and adult sexuality.

I will agree that the movie plays with the viewers sexuality-if you see the entire movie as arousing, or sexual(i/e swimming, naked, short skirts) then you have lost too much innocence(which is what one can consider perversion) a sane adult wont view every single solitary thing as sexual because they have a good balance of innocence and experience. This movie is ultimately a measure of a viewers innocence. If you view it simply as ''good times in the woods with ribbons, toys and scary castles'' you might be naive, but if you view it as ''little girls with cute little buttocks and mini breasts and pedophiles around every corner'' then maybe you have no degree of innocence because you have lost the ability to recognize something as innocent.

I can see why alot of people would think there is some kind of pedo/prostitution thing going on because there are a few times where the idea is thrown out there. And even though its never clear that there are women in the theater, it is painfully clear that the movie wants to to see the outlines of the men only. Also, anyone who has seen The Fine Art of Love will think that. I have that movie and I must admit I was watching Innocence in anticipation of a rape, or child porno moment. The two films are very similar, and are both based on plays written by frank wedekind, and The fine art of love was saturated with pedo material.