The Innocents

The Innocents (1961) is indeed haunting, something that I was glad to have watched during the day. Based on Henry James novella ‘the turn of the screw’, it was co-written by Truman Capote and suggested to have inspired Alejandro Amenabar’s film, The Others (2001).

 

Its narrative focuses on Miss Gaddens (Deborah Kerr), a governess hired to take care of two children in a recluse old mansion. Unfortunately for her the mansion is haunted. That is the house is filled with memories of an affair between a valet and a previous governess, who are now both dead. Even though Gaddens believes to have witnessed their ghosts she is told else-wise it’s her imagination. 

The Innocents does not hide its ghostly narrative, or that the film is frightening, but instead enhances it through cinematography and dark compositions. Shot in Kerr’s first person perspective, we get a one on one perspective with the occult as it starts to infuse her persona. Kerr pushes the narrative along with her matron-esque, almost Davis meets Crawford, making it feel natural to sympathize with children, Miles and Flora. However this pair displays innocent and evil binaries, familiar to the Exorcist (1973) and the Omen (1976) archetypes, from which Gaddens domineering actions become justifiable. 

The Innocents is an accessible horror, in its location setting of a gothic mansion in Sussex which breeds paranormal tensions. But once these horror trademarks are removed, it allows us to observe the tragic descent of a women’s journey into madness.