What a strange strange movie.

An obvious, flat, boring, and sometimes annoying allegory for the transitional stage to womanhood, portrayed by a rather untalented and uninteresting young cast. On the plus side, it has some pretty cinematography, a brooding soundtrack and Marion Cotillard as a ballet teacher.

Not getting the what the hubbub's about, but it's decent and imaginative enough.

"Bursting with pretentious pap about women's journey from a state of undefiled innocence to sullied slutdom." - Nick Schager

While Innocence is about childhood in general, it focuses on the female experience. The film shows how the girls are continually judged on how well they dance, their appearance, and how well they fall in line. The only line spoken by a man was something like "Take this rose. You are the prettiest." The girls are frequently told that they're supposed to use these things when they get to the outside. This is a quite disturbing picture of childhood, but it has an irresistible quality to it.

A beguiling treat of a movie. Sinister yet we never find out quite why, so beautifully made it almost hurts, mystery dripping from every scene, utterly captivating for every single moment. The metaphor for the burgeoning of puberty is clear yet also beautifully handled (that ending!) and though clear never reveals itself fully - the enigmatic quality of the film always remains leaving you pondering throughout. One of the best of the decade.

What a mood, Enchanting. Like a goosebumps story without the lame campy stuff, or like what a boarding school would be like on "Myst Isle". Think "Picnic at hanging rock", done right. Beautiful film, despite an absolutely atrocious DVD transfer. (Apparently the Artificial Eye release is the way to go, the "Home Vision" that Netflix is shelling out is garbage.)

Hadzihalilovic expertly plays with our distinctly non-innocent perception of the world in this very unsettling tale of transition. Atmospheric, beautifully shot, layered work.

Great cinematography and a mysterious, brooding atmosphere that seems to work towards something interesting but never quite delivers. Once you realize "oh wait is all s'posed ta be symbolic innit?" the movie loses a lot of steam.

This film absolutely gorgeous. It's a good thing that the subject matter is beautiful as well. "Innocence" tells that story of a secluded home for girls. The home is in the middle of a vast forest, isolated from the rest of the world. Girls arrive in the home, at a very young age, in a coffin. As the girls age, they earn different colored ribbons which symbolize their age. When the girls reach puberty and maturity, they are released to the world. It touches on loss of innocence and growing up.

Apparently I should re-watch this.

Girls' schools make good settings for mysterious goings-on (see Suspiria, Picnic at Hanging Rock) and the goings-on here are certainly mysterious. There's a lot left unexplained... most of it is blatantly metaphorical, but it's not always obvious what the metaphor represents. A thought-provoking work, beautifully shot with a lovely score and a talented batch of young actresses.

A sweet film about growing up, from the perspective of a woman. I'll admit that as a young man it made me pretty uncomfortable in the way that tampon commercials make me uncomfortable, but I got over that immaturity and became transfixed. The Lynch influence was pretty obvious yet served the film well in a very different way. The metaphors actually meant something, and for all of the sinister moods built up throughout, it actually had something of a happy ending, which was refreshing.

Yes, it's atmospheric and unique, but my god -- how boring can a "mystery" be?! By the end of almost two hours, I had come up with a little song that I squealed over and over, just to keep myself awake. Wanna here it? No? Too bad: "Un, deux, trois. Ooh-la-la, le Français!" I was doing pirouettes.

Good cinematography. Everything else is boring.

It keeps up this atmosphere that's not quite menacing, but definitely unsettling and mysterious. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous and every scene in the forest had me transfixed. Mixed with the good score and good acting, it's a very well constructed film that maybe doesn't tell much in the way of a story, but feels very satisfying in the end anyway.

Picnic at Hanging Rock meets David Lynch is right. It feels original and interesting enough to stand on its own merits, though. Uncomfortable but rewarding.

Strange, beautiful, and mesmerising. Enid Blyton setting and characters mixed with a constant ethereal Lynchian mystery. The cinematography was gorgeous, and the constant unsettling tone was very eerie. ps people who call it boring are big jerks

This One Got An Eerie Atmosphere