Cast: Charles Tingwell, Julia Blake, Terry Norris, Kristien Van Pellicom, Kenny Aernouts
Director: Paul Cox
Producer: Paul Cox
Screenplay: Paul Cox
Cinematography: Tony Clark
Music: Paul Grabowsky
U.S. Distributor: Lions Gate Films
Innocence is little more than a solid, old-fashioned romance. In essence, the movie doesn't do anything more ambitious than chronicle the ebb and flow of a romantic relationship between two characters. The emotions they feel are familiar to all of us - young and old, male and female, gay and heterosexual. The plot doesn't do anything extraordinary, and, if it's given to occasionally slipping into melodrama, we must forgive it - after all, that's a characteristic of even the best romances. And, if the dialogue occasionally becomes somewhat stilted and esoteric, we must forgive that, as well - better characters saying these kinds of things than spouting the dumbed-down lines that permeate big-budget features. To a degree, Innocence doesn't sound that far afield from many motion pictures that arrive in theaters every year, but there is one important difference: the lovers in this romance are both around 70 years of age, and have far less of their lives ahead of them than behind them.
U.S. box office expectations for this film are low. Most pundits assume that this is because mainstream movie-goers are not interested in seeing a love story featuring senior citizens. To some degree, they are probably right - the largest group of ticket-buyers, those in their teens and twenties, have repeatedly shown interest in romances only when the protagonists are young and attractive. They want superficiality and glamour, and have no interest in seeing grandma and grandpa make out. But there are two additional factors that limit Innocence's broad-based appeal: it is a fairly talky motion picture that strays away from many of the familiar soap opera-ish clichés of the genre, and it features two actors who are unknown in North America. Still, for those willing to take a chance on the movie and visit an art house (you won't find Innocence in many multiplexes), this tender and thought-provoking motion picture will reward the effort made to find it.
Innocence tells of the affair between Andreas (Charles Tingwell), a widower, and Claire (Julia Blake), a woman trapped in a comfortable but loveless marriage. 50 years ago, Andreas and Claire were deeply in love, but circumstances separated them. They both married, had children, and lived their lives. Now, in their twilight years, they have found each other again, and, even though their bodies have aged, their passion is as strong as it ever was. Of course, there are complications - Andreas is afflicted with terminal cancer and Claire's husband (Terry Norris) reacts in an expectedly negative manner to the news of his wife's late-life infidelity. But Paul Cox's script remains thought-provoking, even when it veers into melodrama.
Most lovers in motion pictures don't talk about their feelings. In fact, they spend reel after reel avoiding them to facilitate the happy ending. However, perhaps because of their maturity, the characters in Innocence talk frequently and eloquently about their circumstances. They acknowledge that love at their age, with death so close, is a more pure and selfless thing than it is at a younger age. They never plan the future, because it's not clear that either of them has much time left. They enjoy the present and the simple pleasures it offers. And they are open and honest with everyone - themselves, each other, their children, and Claire's husband, John.
The performances are flawless. I never for a moment doubted the strength and depth of feeling that exists between Andreas and Claire, and that's because of the seamless acting by Charles Tingwell and Julia Blake, both of whom have worked with Cox in the past. (He reportedly wrote the screenplay with them in mind.) Terry Norris is also effective as the bewildered John, who has suddenly had the rug pulled out from under him, and is belatedly trying to figure out what he could have done to prevent his wife from falling in love with another man.
Is Innocence's appeal generation-based? While older viewers are more likely than younger ones to identify intimately with the characters, the central emotions are universal. There's nothing in Innocence that will confound or alienate an 18-year old. It has been suggested that the idea of depicting two 70 year olds having sex (the scenes are not graphic, but they are present) is somehow revolutionary, but that would imply that 70 year olds don't have sex - an idea that is ludicrous. The only thing Innocence has done is to face up to a fact of life that some people, for whatever reason, aren't comfortable acknowledging.
Innocence is not a flawless movie, but it is a cut above the average motion picture romance because it addresses familiar issues from a different perspective than that of every other love story. The rhythms are foreign - less hurried, less desperate, more respectful, and more gentle. Yet there is much passion, and more than a little humor in the way Cox presents the story. Andreas and Claire see nothing absurd in their love, but that's not how some of their relatives react. John is so astonished by his wife's behavior that he believes her to be mentally ill (after initially thinking she's playing a joke on him). In the end, Innocence speaks to the romantic in all of us, and it doesn't take long before we don't care about age. Cox works his magic on us, and we are drawn in.
© 2001 James Berardinelli