Innocence (L'école), Lucile Hadzihalilovic, France, 2004, 111'
Behind the wall, a park. In the park, a castle. In the castle, a coffin. In the coffin, a little girl. Iris is six years old and is a student at a strange boarding school with very strict rules in which young adolescents spend their days in physical education, biology and dance. In the evenings comes the mystery: a strange noise in the forest takes Iris up to the house where the teachers live.
The story, a fairy tale that takes a turn towards sexual-psychological expression, is based on the novel written in 1888 by the German author Frank Wedekind, Mine-Haha oder Über die körperliche Erziehung der jungen Mädchen (Mine-Haha, or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls). The film won an award for the best New Director at the San Sebastián International Film Festival of 2004 and the Fipresci Award and Audience Award at the Istanbul Film Festival of 2005.
Behind the wall, a park. In the park, a castle. In the castle, a coffin. In the coffin, a little girl. Iris is six years old and is a student at a strange board