'The Innocents': The subject of the film is more arresting than the movie
'Innocents' stars Lou de Laâge as a nurse with the French Red Cross who aids a nunnery where six nuns and a novice have been left pregnant by marauding Soviet soldiers.
'The Innocents' stars Eliza Rycembel.
Courtesy of Music Box Films
The subject of “The Innocents,” based on real events, is more arresting than the movie itself. Mathilde (Lou de Laâge), a nurse with the French Red Cross who is stationed in postwar Poland, ends up clandestinely aiding a nearby nunnery where six nuns and a novice have been left pregnant by marauding Soviet soldiers.
The ghastliness of this situation has its black comic aspects, but director Anne Fontaine keeps everything on an even keel – too even. As the Mother Superior, Agata Kulesza (so good in “Ida”) lends a gravely powerful presence. Grade: B- (Rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic material including sexual assault, and for some bloody images and brief suggestive content.)