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'The Innocents': The subject of the film is more arresting than the movie

( PG-13 ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

'Innocents' stars Lou de Laâge as a nurse with the French Red Cross who aids a nunnery where six nuns and a novice have been left pregnant by marauding Soviet soldiers.

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Courtesy of Music Box Films
'The Innocents' stars Eliza Rycembel.
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

The subject of “The Innocents,” based on real events, is more arresting than the movie itself. Mathilde (Lou de Laâge), a nurse with the French Red Cross who is stationed in postwar Poland, ends up clandestinely aiding a nearby nunnery where six nuns and a novice have been left pregnant by marauding Soviet soldiers.

The ghastliness of this situation has its black comic aspects, but director Anne Fontaine keeps everything on an even keel – too even. As the Mother Superior, Agata Kulesza (so good in “Ida”) lends a gravely powerful presence. Grade: B- (Rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic material including sexual assault, and for some bloody images and brief suggestive content.)

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