The Innocents

Saw The Innocents, a classy horror. An adaptation of The Turn of the Screw, it follows a young Maria von Trapp-like governess who is put in charge of an adorable girl and boy. Slowly, over the course of months, she becomes morbidly convinced that the house in general and the children in specific are haunted and possessed. The film allows a dual interpretation of either a genuine haunting or simply a case of hysterical insanity. I really like psychodrama, so several scenes I loved. There are the by-now-usual scenes of creepy music boxes and clown dolls, but the film makes excellent use of the children. The governess's theories of possession and conspiracy are nicely juxtaposed with the children laughing in what seems, fleetingly, like a conspicuously conspiratorial manner.

The film is really rooted in the neurotic fears of the governess that the children have been given bad influences. The possession of evil spirits is, more prosaically, the bad habits and foul words of a previous generation. There is a slight element of religious mania about the governess's actions. She is so convinced of the innate goodness of children that she attributes bad behaviour to demons. On the other hand, the boy sometimes smiles knowingly at her distress and sometimes the little girl purposefully ignores her. At all times the children are evasive, either changing the subject maliciously or at random, depending on your interpretation. The film is really good at flickering these interpretations back and forth, allowing you to really get inside of the governess's head. Well done.

As a horror, it's quite tame. There's no part where I even jumped. The film really works better as a psychodrama. the dread mounts slowly and though it never becomes acute, it seems all the more real. People do go insane, after all. Children do pick up nasty habits. The uncertainty makes the dish all the more piquant.