At the heart of a densely wooded forest lies a mysterious girls' boarding school. A subterranean rumbling resonates in the heart of the forest. Hidden by foliage, a metal grate reveals underground passageways, which lead to the cellars of five houses scattered throughout a great park. The park is cut off from the outside world by a huge wall with no door. Within one of the houses, a group of youngsters aged between seven and twelve gather round a small coffin, from which emerges a new pupil, six-year-old Iris. Led by the eldest girl, Bianca, Iris is introduced to this strange yet enchanting world of lamp-lit forest paths and eerie underground passageways, where there are no adults save for several elderly servants and two melancholy young teachers, Mlle Edith and Mlle Eva. But this haven is one from which the girls are forbidden to leave, and those that do are never heard from again.
A dark, yet beautiful fable that contrasts the atmosphere of dread and uncertainty with the light of youthful purity. Captivating in its mystery, the further the story progresses without giving any answers, the more the anxiety builds. It is set in a timeless present evocative of the 1960s, and is not, strictly speaking, a fantasy film, but simply a child's eye vision of real life, experienced through its three main characters – Iris, the youngest girl, who arrives at the school; Alice, who has already spent several years there and rebels; and Bianca, who is at the end of the school cycle and represents a young girl shaped by it.
This strikingly unique debut feature explores themes of metamorphosis, maturity, understanding, friendship and loss, as the young girls prepare for their ascent into womanhood. Haunting and bizarre, filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović imbues Innocence with a fairytale-like sense of menace and images of surreal beauty, creating a mesmerising and timeless evocation of childhood.
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