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The Innocents

Original title: Les innocentes
  • 2016
  • PG-13
  • 1h 55m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
12K
YOUR RATING
The Innocents (2016)
French Trailer for The Innocents
Play trailer2:06
4 Videos
76 Photos
DramaHistory

1945. Mathilde is a French Red Cross doctor working on a mission to help the French survivors of the German camps. While she works in Poland, she is asked for help by a nun. In her convent, ... Read all1945. Mathilde is a French Red Cross doctor working on a mission to help the French survivors of the German camps. While she works in Poland, she is asked for help by a nun. In her convent, several nuns are pregnant.1945. Mathilde is a French Red Cross doctor working on a mission to help the French survivors of the German camps. While she works in Poland, she is asked for help by a nun. In her convent, several nuns are pregnant.

  • Director
    • Anne Fontaine
  • Writers
    • Sabrina B. Karine
    • Alice Vial
    • Anne Fontaine
  • Stars
    • Lou de Laâge
    • Agata Buzek
    • Agata Kulesza
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.3/10
    12K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Anne Fontaine
    • Writers
      • Sabrina B. Karine
      • Alice Vial
      • Anne Fontaine
    • Stars
      • Lou de Laâge
      • Agata Buzek
      • Agata Kulesza
    • 51User reviews
    • 105Critic reviews
    • 78Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 13 nominations total

    Videos4

    The Innocents
    Trailer 2:06
    The Innocents
    The Innocents
    Trailer 2:07
    The Innocents
    The Innocents
    Trailer 2:07
    The Innocents
    The Innocents
    Trailer 2:21
    The Innocents
    The Innocents -- Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:21
    The Innocents -- Official Trailer

    Photos75

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    Top cast55

    Edit
    Lou de Laâge
    Lou de Laâge
    • Mathilde Beaulieu
    Agata Buzek
    Agata Buzek
    • Maria
    Agata Kulesza
    Agata Kulesza
    • Mère Abesse
    Vincent Macaigne
    Vincent Macaigne
    • Samuel
    Joanna Kulig
    Joanna Kulig
    • Irena
    Eliza Rycembel
    Eliza Rycembel
    • Teresa
    Katarzyna Dabrowska
    • Anna
    Anna Próchniak
    Anna Próchniak
    • Zofia
    Helena Sujecka
    Helena Sujecka
    • Ludwika
    Mira Maluszinska
    • Bibiana
    Dorota Kuduk
    Dorota Kuduk
    • Wanda
    Klara Bielawka
    Klara Bielawka
    • Joanna
    Pascal Elso
    • Le colonel
    Thomas Coumans
    Thomas Coumans
    • Gaspard
    Leon Latan-Paszek
    • Wladek
    Joanna Fertacz
    Joanna Fertacz
    • La tante de Zofia
    Zacharjasz Muszynski
    Zacharjasz Muszynski
    • Caporal russe
    Mariusz Jakus
    Mariusz Jakus
    • Officier russe
    • Director
      • Anne Fontaine
    • Writers
      • Sabrina B. Karine
      • Alice Vial
      • Anne Fontaine
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews51

    7.312.1K
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    Featured reviews

    9ewleeds

    This Film Puts Hollywood To Shame, It Captures the Essence Of Great Film Making

    Close your eyes and think about the film Wuthering Heights, try to remember Olivier as Heathcliffe, the Yorkshire Moors swept with rain, fog and snow, and the forbidding house whose young master bullied Heathcliffe away and add Cathy's great performance. This film "The Innocents" captures the Spirit of Wuthering Heights in a post wartime Polish Monastery setting, this film portrays the liberation of Poland from the Nazis, who were supplanted by the vodka, vulgar and volva Russians, who raped the Nuns in this monastery causing several to become pregnant and bitterly ashamed of what had occurred, so much so that they shunned outside help, hid behind closed doors and walls, surrounded by the legacy of a wartime Poland ( Polish saying: Lifes bitter lessons I recall, I seem to remember them all) Aid arrives in the form of a French Doctor working locally for the French Red Cross, who solves their pressing problems. The Sound of Music this film ain't, its storyline is more powerful, more moving and another triumph for the French Film industry. A great film, a wonderful moving film, and a lesson in film making to all.
    8Reno-Rangan

    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 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
    10Red-125

    The war was over, but not for the Polish nuns

    The French film Les innocentes was shown in the U.S. with the translated title The Innocents (2016). Anne Fontaine directed this powerful movie.

    The year is 1945, just after the end of World War II. A French Red Cross unit is sent into Poland. Their mission was to care for French survivors of the camps. Among the Red Cross staff is a young medical student, Mathilde Beaulieu, played by Lou de Laâge. Early in the film, we learn a terrible secret about the nuns in a nearby convent. Many of them are pregnant, because they were raped by Russian soldiers. Mathilde learns of this, and she is allowed to enter the convent, where she meets Sister Maria, a French-speaking nun played by Agata Buzek. To go further with the plot would diminish the movie, so I'll stop at that point. Let me just say that the situation is even worse than it seems.

    This is a movie that is not to be missed. Yes, it's grim, but postwar Poland was a grim place. The film takes place in winter, so snow covers everything, and even the Red Cross staff is miserable. Obviously, for the nuns in the convent, everything is much more terrible.

    The acting in the film by the two lead actors is outstanding. Also, the ensemble acting was wonderful. There were no weak links, and no obviously staged scenes. Everything looked real--cold, dark, and threatening--but real.

    This is one of those movies where many frames could be lifted from the film and used as a photograph. My compliments to cinematographer Caroline Champetier, who did a brilliant job.

    We saw this film at the excellent Little Theatre in Rochester, NY. It will work well enough on the small screen, but the large screen gives you a better sense of the isolation of the convent. The nuns don't expect help from outside. They only expect harm to come to them. Mathilde is the exception, and they (and we) understand that. Small screen or large screen, don't miss this movie!

    P.S. The film is based on the experiences of a French doctor--Madeleine Jeanne Marie Pauliac. She was a member of the French Resistance, and did, indeed work tirelessly in Poland after the war. For artistic reasons, director Fontaine focused on Dr. Pauliac's work with the pregnant nuns. The rest of her accomplishments would also make a fascinating movie.
    8Foutainoflife

    Touching

    Pregnant nuns. A reality when the world is at war and some lose their sense of humanity, respect and the common decency in the treatment of others. This is a film that looks into how these nuns had to face the abuses they suffered at the hands of others, how they were to cope with the consequences of said abuse and the religious ideology they hold so dear.

    The acting, filming and the seriousness of this were all done well. It manages to catch your attention and never gives the viewer the opportunity to look away. I'm glad I took the time to watch it.
    7anil-kulkarni-108-85663

    Nun redemption

    Powerful tale of a convent that has its inhabitants violated by Russian soldiers in ww2. How they come to terms with their most primordial maternal instinct is what forms the meat of the story. Good solid filmmaking.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Liam Neeson in Schindler's List (1993)
    History

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Based on the true story of Madeleine Pauliac, renamed Mathilde Beaulieu in the film, during her time working as a doctor in Poland. The story was brought to the attention of producers by Pauliac's nephew, Philippe Maynial, who had her diary.
    • Quotes

      Maria: You know, faith. At first, We're like a child that his father holds by his hand, who feels safe. A moment comes and I think he always comes where the father will let you go. We're lost, alone in the dark. We call, nobody answers. We're getting ready, we're surprised. We're hit in the heart. That's the cross. Behind all joy, there is the cross.

    • Soundtracks
      Vox clara ecce intonat
      Written by Hildegard von Bingen

      Performed by Elsa Papatanasios, Emmanuelle Huteau, Marie George Monet and Nathalie Liess

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    FAQ18

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 10, 2016 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Poland
      • Belgium
    • Official sites
      • Mandarin Films (France)
      • Mars Films (France)
    • Languages
      • French
      • Polish
      • Russian
    • Also known as
      • Cordero de Dios
    • Filming locations
      • Orneta, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Poland
    • Production companies
      • Mandarin Films
      • Aeroplan Film
      • France 2 Cinéma
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • €6,400,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,065,665
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $30,896
      • Jul 3, 2016
    • Gross worldwide
      • $7,400,301
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 55m(115 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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