The Innocents

Poland, 1945. Mathilde, a young French Red Cross doctor, is on a mission to help the war survivors. When a nun seeks for her help, she is brought to a convent where several pregnant sisters are hiding, unable to reconcile their faith with their pregnancy. Mathilde becomes their only hope.

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  • ★★★★ review by Jeffrey Overstreet on Letterboxd

    Name one movie that is

    a) directed by a woman,

    b) filmed by a woman,

    b) about women, and

    c) deeply concerned with matters of faith.

    I can think of many films directed by men, and focusing on men, that rigorously wrestle with questions about God and the problem of evil. But The Innocents is a remarkably rare event.

    Here's my full review.

  • ★★★★½ review by Aaron Locke on Letterboxd

    Easily soars to the top of my "best of" list for this year. Thematically rich and compelling from the very first scene. One of the best shot films I've seen this year. Having a female director behind the camera is a game changer here, helping to enrich the material in a really important way.

  • ★★★★ review by guilherme on Letterboxd

    WE NEED TO TALK MORE ABOUT POLISH CINEMA

  • ★★★★ review by Shikhar Verma on Letterboxd

    "Faith is twenty-four hours of doubt and one minute of hope."

  • ★★★★½ review by Enfant du Siècle on Letterboxd

    A bleak story of a group of nuns enduring a silent pain near the end of World War II. This is a film about faith and survival that deals with complex ethical and religious themes in a subtle way but that is really affecting for the viewer. Fontaine's delicate and sober mise en scène, marked by an exquisite use of light, reminded me of interior scenes from dutch artists of the Golden Age of the likes of Johannes Vermeer. The performances of the female cast are remarkable, even those that only have a few scenes make a lasting impression; a special mention to Agata Buzek and her nuanced and compassionate turn as sister Maria.

    A story that needed to be told, Les Innocentes is a heartbreaking and powerful film.

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