The Innocents

Name: The Innocents
Genre: Drama
Released: July 1, 2016
Duration: 115 min
Rating: 78

2016

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Ratings

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7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Ratings

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The Innocents

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Movie Details & Credits

Music Box Films | Release Date: July 1, 2016 | Not Rated

Summary: Warsaw, December 1945: the second World War is finally over and Mathilde is treating the last of the French survivors of the German camps. When a panicked Benedictine nun appears at the clinic one night begging Mathilde to follow her back to the convent, what she finds there is shocking: a holy sister about to give birth and several more inWarsaw, December 1945: the second World War is finally over and Mathilde is treating the last of the French survivors of the German camps. When a panicked Benedictine nun appears at the clinic one night begging Mathilde to follow her back to the convent, what she finds there is shocking: a holy sister about to give birth and several more in advanced stages of pregnancy. A non-believer, Mathilde enters the sisters’ fiercely private world, dictated by the rituals of their order and the strict Rev. Mother (Agata Kulesza). Fearing the shame of exposure, the hostility of the new anti-Catholic Communist government, and facing an unprecedented crisis of faith, the nuns increasingly turn to Mathilde as their belief and traditions clash with harsh realities. [Music Box Films]… Expand

Director: Anne Fontaine

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 115 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Kenneth Turan

Jun 30, 2016

A gripping psychological drama based on events more than half a century old, it has inescapable contemporary echoes. Laced with intensely emotional situations, it refuses to force the issue by pushing too hard. And it proves, yet again, that though moral and spiritual questions may not sound spellbinding they often provide the most absorbing movie experiences. Read full review

Stephen Holden

Jun 30, 2016

Blistering. Read full review

Claudia Puig

Jul 17, 2016

Fontaine powerfully conveys the religious women’s inner torment, but with restraint, both visually and verbally. Read full review

Justin Chang

May 11, 2016

Hope and horror are commingled to quietly moving effect in Agnus Dei, a restrained but cumulatively powerful French-Polish drama about the various crises of faith that emerge when a house of God is ravaged by war. Read full review

Ty Burr

Jul 13, 2016

Half melodrama, half Holy Minimalism, mostly engrossing, the film is guided by the idea of two women moving slowly toward each other in friendship and understanding, one an atheist doctor and the other a worldly bride of Christ. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Christy Lemire

Jul 1, 2016

Veteran French director Anne Fontaine approaches a spiritually and emotionally complex real-life slice of history with deftness and understated drama in The Innocents. Read full review

The Playlist Kevin Jagernauth

May 11, 2016

Director Anne Fontaine’s film is based on actual events and grapples with thorny questions that plague even the most zealous during times of crisis. It’s a pity, then, that this picture finds Fontaine compelled to find a resolution in a situation that seldom yields easy answers. Read full review

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User Reviews

AlanoSilvaPB

Feb 25, 2023

Dor, esperança, duvida, fé, angustia, tudo mistura em um filme que desperta vários sentimentos e emoções, afinal oque cada um faria naquele lugar, seja como a vítima, ajudante ou observador, cada um teria uma resposta e é nisso que o filme busca despertar, oque faria nessa situação, ótimoDor, esperança, duvida, fé, angustia, tudo mistura em um filme que desperta vários sentimentos e emoções, afinal oque cada um faria naquele lugar, seja como a vítima, ajudante ou observador, cada um teria uma resposta e é nisso que o filme busca despertar, oque faria nessa situação, ótimo filme, uma vez que vi um filme despertar essa pergunta foi o, A Dúvida, outro poderoso filme.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Deanomite

Feb 18, 2020

What came across to me more than anything was what a small world the nuns live in. Raped and pregnant, they only fear for their chastity vows in being medically examined. That is a very small world. I have read stories of nuns being used as servants and sex slaves for priests before, andWhat came across to me more than anything was what a small world the nuns live in. Raped and pregnant, they only fear for their chastity vows in being medically examined. That is a very small world. I have read stories of nuns being used as servants and sex slaves for priests before, and the cost of ignorance really suffocates me. The soldiers are ignorant of women as people, the doctors are ignorant of the Poles as human, the lover of the female doctor is ignorant of her having a choice in a relationship with him, and she is also apparently ignorant of it, since he forces her to have sex and afterwords they are lovers, even though he is a racist pig. It is a world of un conscious people.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

netflic

Jul 15, 2016

This movie is based on real events.
It is December 1945, the deadliest of all wars is over, but its aftermath is felt everywhere. 
Matilda, a French Red Cross medical worker, is in Poland attending to last French survivors in German camps. She finds herself helping local Catholic nuns whoThis movie is based on real events.
It is December 1945, the deadliest of all wars is over, but its aftermath is felt everywhere. 
Matilda, a French Red Cross medical worker, is in Poland attending to last French survivors in German camps. She finds herself helping local Catholic nuns who got pregnant when Soviet troops liberated Poland, and considered local women trophy prizes for getting rid of Nazis.  
This movie is about how faith and modern world collide. Can faith survive when God's abandonment becomes apparent? Can God forgive sins committed without intent? (in this case, knowing a man and getting pregnant, albeit through rape).  
Similarly to how many Jews lost their beliefs in God after Holocaust, these Catholic nuns are having a faith crisis trying to understand how God allowed such a grief caused on his faithful servants.
I liked the movie a lot. Maybe a bit too long; and the happy end seemed a bit trite. Nevertheless, my score is 8 out of 10. … Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

LeZee

Jul 30, 2017

When the house of peace was disturbed!

From the director Anne Fontaine. Like any of her works, this is another top class women oriented film. But it was partially based on the incredible true story. Partial means, no one knows what was the actual event. The director and her writers inspiredWhen the house of peace was disturbed!

From the director Anne Fontaine. Like any of her works, this is another top class women oriented film. But it was partially based on the incredible true story. Partial means, no one knows what was the actual event. The director and her writers inspired by the diary the French doctor who worked for Red Cross in Poland at the end of the World War II, who wrote down her experience on it. So, with the small-small facts the story was built on for the film. Well done job by the cast and crew.

Whenever you hear the word/abbreviation 'WWII', it always bound with nazi Germans. Since this tale takes place just after the war, when the Soviet took over the Poland from them, it is set to reveal one of the extremely hidden secrets. Just imagine how secret it is, like you have read many books and have seen many films regarding the WWII, but you have never heard about this, until now. It is a heart rending tale, but the thing is everything's about the aftermath, how they handled their state of condition.

Mathilde, the French doctor is fetched by a nun from the nearby convent is shocked when she reached there to see most of them are in the final stage of their pregnancy. They were sexually abused by the Soviet soldiers, but now she as to keep it quiet as requested by the mother superior. She's being an atheist and to whom she's treating, the believers, is exactly the opposite kind. But not just her, the nuns as well put aside their differences to overcome their situation.

❝For us nuns, the end of the war does not mean the end of fear.❞

It's right on the coldest winter, does not tell about the original violence, but there's still a few incidents about the army atrocities, how they treated innocent nuns, even the Red Cross members. But remember nothing was the actual depiction. It would have been even better if it was a documentary film. Doing some research and telling us the tale, reading exactly as what was written in the diary. But the film was not bad, except the scene to scene, event to event it was very slow to move, except right on the point.

The story has a twist, but it was not like very powerful. It depends on how you would consider it. Because for me, I felt it was too cruel, hard to take on. The story about church people means, you would expect a gentle kind. Or even in such situation, as in this film, to react as much as possibly generously as what they're known for. But in the first place, it was no ones fault. They all fighting for the same reason, especially keeping the outside world in mind, each one reacted differently. So it is understandable, but not all the acts were respectable.

As the director said in her interview, this is a period film, but pretty much the same in the contemporary world where war is on. The violence against the innocent women. So it is a debatable topic. And if it was directed by some male filmmaker, he might have risked with the violences in the flashback scenes to bring more depth in the narration. The present film is kind of compromises on that, but still not easy to watch everything it shows. Particularly for the families. Great performances by all. One of the best films on this theme and of the year. The film is not to be ignored. Despite not about the war, but just like 'Under Sandet', about the following event.

8/10… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Beecee

Aug 10, 2016

This is a moving story about morality during wartime. Immediately after the end of World War II, a female Red Cross French doctor (Mathilde) is approached by a local nun. One nun is about to give birth due to her rape by the conquering Russian soldiers, and several others are pregnant.This is a moving story about morality during wartime. Immediately after the end of World War II, a female Red Cross French doctor (Mathilde) is approached by a local nun. One nun is about to give birth due to her rape by the conquering Russian soldiers, and several others are pregnant. The sense of fear is palpable, particularly when Mathilde herself is threatened by a group of Russian soldiers. There are many issues here regarding faith, moral decisions and duty. There is a happy ending of sorts, which connects the convent to the outside community. In French and Polish, with a little Russian.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

EpicLadySponge

Oct 7, 2016

The Innocents builds up a box of life for protection around for the end of World War II. It may ask us to watch this film and you, indeed, are going to love it. Please do watch it.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

jrodfilms

Jul 9, 2016

i would say the down side to this movie was each major event after event happening made it come off a bit soap opera-ish. the story can be a bit rough at times, but it has an ending shows some light at the end of the tunnel even if everything hasnt been answered.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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