The Innocents

Set in Poland during the winter of 1945, Anne Fontaine’s (Coco Before Chanel, Adore) masterful and accomplished The Innocents is based on actual events in the aftermath of World War II. Mathilde, a young doctor for the French Red Cross, is summoned by a desperate and frightened nun to attend to an emergency. They arrive at the abbey as pained cries echo through the stony walls to find a young sister in labor. Mathilde delivers the baby and is drawn into the private world of the nuns as they confide the indescribable nightmare that led to their predicament. Burdened by guilt and shame, the nuns experience a crisis of faith, not only in their commitment to God, but in the strict hierarchy and demands of obedience of the convent; many have their faith tested while others find theirs strengthened. Anchored by strong performances and graceful cinematography, The Innocents transcends the typical war-torn drama in its intimacy and delicate nuance. Fontaine’s elegant approach eschews graphic depictions of violence for quiet but powerful rumination on the brutality and pervasive fear of war and on the resilience that allows people to emerge from tragedy with a sense of hope. —Holly Roach