The Innocents (1961)When one's grasp over the rational buckles under the weight of horror, madness makes the mind its roost, and all manner of devils may claim dominion. When first-time governess, Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr), is hired to care for two young children--Flora (Pamela Franklin) and Miles (Martin Stephens)--at the majestic country estate of Bly, what begins as a friendly commission transforms into a dour and terrifying job as Miss Giddens becomes convinced that the spirits of two former employees--now deceased--hold sway over the innocent children, threatening to destroy their eternal souls.
|
|
The Innocents (1961) is a landmark psychological horror film adapted from the play of the same name, which in turn was adapted from Henry James' psychological horror novella, "The Turn of the Screw". The Innocents was directed by Jack Clayton and co-written for the screen by Truman Capote, following his success with "In Cold Blood". The story represents one of the most intriguing challenges in adapting a written work of fiction originally designed to create doubt in the reader's mind about the sanity of this new governess. Specifically, the challenge lies in implying the existence of the ghosts of Peter Quint (Peter Wyngarde) and Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop) versus an overt manifestation of them on screen. The Innocents deftly manages this ambiguity by maintaining the conceit that the apparitions are never fully definite in one way or the other. In part, this is handled as it is in the novella by underscoring themes and dialogue which could be interpreted in varied ways. At other times, it is managed by the precise direction paired with the cinematography of Freddie Francis. From the start, Miss Giddens is amiable enough...kind, pretty, and yet also a touch shy. Our introduction to her is via her interview with the unnamed uncle of Flora and Miles, played by Michael Redgrave--a handsome, urbane man, but one who is almost callously disinterested in his wards, save that he insists that they should cared for by a governess. He asks her if she has an "imagination", to which she replies in the affirmative in her almost consistently nervous-sounding voice. Even from here, the seed of doubt about her mental faculties is planted, partnered with her self-professed inexperience. This is part of what leaves the audience suspicious of whether Miss Giddens truly saw a ghost, or if it is, in fact, all in her addled mind.
Another motif in "The Turn of the Screw" concerns the possibility that the anxiety and mania born in Miss Giddens is a manifestation of her own sexual frustration. Although deviously subtle in The Innocents, there is a hint of this in her interview; based on their candid, even familiar conversation, it would not be unreasonable to assume that the uncle of her future protegees stirs something within Miss Giddens, with his fine clothes, good speech, and wealth. This seductive quality practically infects Miss Giddens, and the audience can sense a heightened excitement and repressed arousal in her. As in the source material, this influence can be felt in the gasping--even orgasmic--response by Miss Giddens when she is "confronted" by the ghost of the reportedly lascivious Peter Quint. More disturbing is how Miles carries himself with a very adult attitude, and recalls some of the masculine characteristics found in both his uncle and Quint. As found in some interpretations of "The Turn of the Screw", The Innocents dances precariously close to the uncomfortable intimation that Miss Giddens' is attracted to her charge. Flora's fey attitude makes her appear as a natural kind of "innocent", spending her days in the garden and playing with her pet turtle. Even this is a metaphor for the "Garden of Eden", where a naive girl is "seduced" by a reptile into obtaining forbidden knowledge. Much of what Flora says implies that she has a worldly understanding which she doesn't care to share, and much of the dialogue in The Innocents is pregnant with tension and Freudian insinuations which stir the audience's imagination, like a serpentine susurrus threatening to corrupt our own innocence.
The greater challenge in adapting any written work to film--especially one praised for its ambiguity--is in how to carry over the tone and richness of the prose into the visual medium. Deborah Kerr gives a monumental performance, deftly conveying the uncertainties of Miss Giddens in her anxiety-ridden performance. Miss Giddens is--as the film reveals--a neurotic personality that all at once seems overstimulated, resentful, petrified, and increasingly temperamental; yet Kerr's performance is delivered in such a way as to afford the audience the ability to interpret it in a way that best suits their perspective of the narrative. By keeping almost the majority of the film's setting at Bly, The Innocents creates a sensation of claustrophobia, and it is implied that this may be influencing Miss Giddens. Grand and expansive though Bly may be, its normal that when anyone is confined to a singular location for a long period of time, one's perspective of the rest of the world--and one's place in it--becomes distorted. Miss Giddens begins to presume that the children are complicit with the specters she believes possesses them, and thinks they are whispering secrets to one another, slowly being corrupted by the depraved Quint and fallen Jessel. Miss Giddens sees imitations of acts of these adults she has never met in the children, in a dream montage drenched in dissolves. The image Miss Giddens has in her mind of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel is of a pair of corrupt guardians, comfortable to shirk their duties for selfish desires and debauched lust in the proverbial "dark woods". The question becomes whether Miss Giddens is truly appalled by their aberrant behavior, of if she is actually jealous instead. Both the perceived loss of innocence of the children in Miss Giddens' increasingly paranoid eyes, and the grand-yet-insulated estate of Bly were no doubt influences on Stanley Kubrick's own tale of psychological horror, The Shining, which itself was in turn adapted from the novel of the same name by modern horror maestro, Stephen King. Cutaways and sharp editing do much to imply the possibility that, just maybe, that the haunting is real, and that the children may be afflicted by the spirits of the damned; visual motifs imply a symmetry between the children and their darker, perceived puppet masters.
Regarding the cinematography, the deep focus juxtaposed with intentionally blurred edge lines of the camera give The Innocents a hyper-aware quality, as though it were a dream that is too real--creating a "tunnel of light" effect. Some scenes portray characters on one plane (the foreground), carrying on a conversation with another in the background, making it seem as though an invisible barrier existed between them. This is especially effective in moments between Miss Giddens and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins), who is placed in the increasingly awkward position of having to balance entertaining the ravings of Miss Giddens with her concern for the welfare of the children. The Innocents expands on this cinematic trompe l'oeil in later scenes, most famously when Miss Giddens catches sight of the bleak, shadowy form of Miss Jessel out on the reeds of the pond. The distance between them and faintly blurry image of her uncharacteristically out of focus implies she might not really be there at all. One of the best moments which emphasizes both Miss Giddens' descent into madness and/or the undertow of supernatural malevolence is in the childrens' schoolroom. Miss Giddens sees the phantom of Miss Jessel again and approachs it, only for it to disappear from the audience's perspective. The camera cuts away to Mrs. Grose entering the room and we see Miss Giddens seated where only moments before we saw Miss Jessel--and it becomes evident that the black dress that Miss Giddens wears bears a striking resemblance to the one Miss Jessel had been seen in. At this point, as though she were possessed herself, Miss Giddens recites her plan to confront the children about their communion with the ghosts, totally unblinking in her speech to the housekeeper. It is a chilling scene, and one of many designed to unnerve and disarm the audience with uncertain horrors that lurk out of sight, be they supernatural or psychological...or maybe not even mutually exclusive.
Recommended for: Fans of a creepy and intense psychological thriller that empowers the audience to determine whether the protagonist is more haunted or touched. The Innocents is loaded with ambiguous implications and broad themes which make it a sumptuous film that rewards multiple viewings and has been an influence on many filmmakers since.
Another motif in "The Turn of the Screw" concerns the possibility that the anxiety and mania born in Miss Giddens is a manifestation of her own sexual frustration. Although deviously subtle in The Innocents, there is a hint of this in her interview; based on their candid, even familiar conversation, it would not be unreasonable to assume that the uncle of her future protegees stirs something within Miss Giddens, with his fine clothes, good speech, and wealth. This seductive quality practically infects Miss Giddens, and the audience can sense a heightened excitement and repressed arousal in her. As in the source material, this influence can be felt in the gasping--even orgasmic--response by Miss Giddens when she is "confronted" by the ghost of the reportedly lascivious Peter Quint. More disturbing is how Miles carries himself with a very adult attitude, and recalls some of the masculine characteristics found in both his uncle and Quint. As found in some interpretations of "The Turn of the Screw", The Innocents dances precariously close to the uncomfortable intimation that Miss Giddens' is attracted to her charge. Flora's fey attitude makes her appear as a natural kind of "innocent", spending her days in the garden and playing with her pet turtle. Even this is a metaphor for the "Garden of Eden", where a naive girl is "seduced" by a reptile into obtaining forbidden knowledge. Much of what Flora says implies that she has a worldly understanding which she doesn't care to share, and much of the dialogue in The Innocents is pregnant with tension and Freudian insinuations which stir the audience's imagination, like a serpentine susurrus threatening to corrupt our own innocence.
The greater challenge in adapting any written work to film--especially one praised for its ambiguity--is in how to carry over the tone and richness of the prose into the visual medium. Deborah Kerr gives a monumental performance, deftly conveying the uncertainties of Miss Giddens in her anxiety-ridden performance. Miss Giddens is--as the film reveals--a neurotic personality that all at once seems overstimulated, resentful, petrified, and increasingly temperamental; yet Kerr's performance is delivered in such a way as to afford the audience the ability to interpret it in a way that best suits their perspective of the narrative. By keeping almost the majority of the film's setting at Bly, The Innocents creates a sensation of claustrophobia, and it is implied that this may be influencing Miss Giddens. Grand and expansive though Bly may be, its normal that when anyone is confined to a singular location for a long period of time, one's perspective of the rest of the world--and one's place in it--becomes distorted. Miss Giddens begins to presume that the children are complicit with the specters she believes possesses them, and thinks they are whispering secrets to one another, slowly being corrupted by the depraved Quint and fallen Jessel. Miss Giddens sees imitations of acts of these adults she has never met in the children, in a dream montage drenched in dissolves. The image Miss Giddens has in her mind of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel is of a pair of corrupt guardians, comfortable to shirk their duties for selfish desires and debauched lust in the proverbial "dark woods". The question becomes whether Miss Giddens is truly appalled by their aberrant behavior, of if she is actually jealous instead. Both the perceived loss of innocence of the children in Miss Giddens' increasingly paranoid eyes, and the grand-yet-insulated estate of Bly were no doubt influences on Stanley Kubrick's own tale of psychological horror, The Shining, which itself was in turn adapted from the novel of the same name by modern horror maestro, Stephen King. Cutaways and sharp editing do much to imply the possibility that, just maybe, that the haunting is real, and that the children may be afflicted by the spirits of the damned; visual motifs imply a symmetry between the children and their darker, perceived puppet masters.
Regarding the cinematography, the deep focus juxtaposed with intentionally blurred edge lines of the camera give The Innocents a hyper-aware quality, as though it were a dream that is too real--creating a "tunnel of light" effect. Some scenes portray characters on one plane (the foreground), carrying on a conversation with another in the background, making it seem as though an invisible barrier existed between them. This is especially effective in moments between Miss Giddens and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins), who is placed in the increasingly awkward position of having to balance entertaining the ravings of Miss Giddens with her concern for the welfare of the children. The Innocents expands on this cinematic trompe l'oeil in later scenes, most famously when Miss Giddens catches sight of the bleak, shadowy form of Miss Jessel out on the reeds of the pond. The distance between them and faintly blurry image of her uncharacteristically out of focus implies she might not really be there at all. One of the best moments which emphasizes both Miss Giddens' descent into madness and/or the undertow of supernatural malevolence is in the childrens' schoolroom. Miss Giddens sees the phantom of Miss Jessel again and approachs it, only for it to disappear from the audience's perspective. The camera cuts away to Mrs. Grose entering the room and we see Miss Giddens seated where only moments before we saw Miss Jessel--and it becomes evident that the black dress that Miss Giddens wears bears a striking resemblance to the one Miss Jessel had been seen in. At this point, as though she were possessed herself, Miss Giddens recites her plan to confront the children about their communion with the ghosts, totally unblinking in her speech to the housekeeper. It is a chilling scene, and one of many designed to unnerve and disarm the audience with uncertain horrors that lurk out of sight, be they supernatural or psychological...or maybe not even mutually exclusive.
Recommended for: Fans of a creepy and intense psychological thriller that empowers the audience to determine whether the protagonist is more haunted or touched. The Innocents is loaded with ambiguous implications and broad themes which make it a sumptuous film that rewards multiple viewings and has been an influence on many filmmakers since.