THE INNOCENTS
UK, 1961, minutes, Black and white.
Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave, Pamela Franklin, Peter Wyngarde.
Directed by Jack Clayton,
The Innocents is an extraordinary film, right from the first anguished hand-clasps of the tormented Miss Giddings until the film returns to where it started. It is a film version of Henry James' story, "The Turn of the Screw", James' story is Intriguing, a puzzle as to whether the unnamed governess is telling a story about evil she discovers or whether it is about the creation of her own diseased imagination.
The film keeps something of the same mystery, especially in its ending. However, James' novel suffers from a Victorian reticence which says that things are horrible and does not actually describe them. The film keeps something of this, but as we watch Deborah Kerr, we see the mysterious workings of Victorian reticence and neurosis.
Deborah Kerr has given many excellent performances in a long career, but this must be one of her best. Michael Redgrave appears briefly as the children's uncle. Pamela Franklin appears as Flora. She later appeared as she grew older in The Lion, The Third Secret, Our Mother's House, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Director Jack Clayton has made only a few films, but they are all worth seeing: The Bespoke Overcoat (1956), Room at the Top (1958), The Innocents (1961), The Pumpkin Eater (1964), Our Mother's House (1967). An excellent atmospheric and mysterious film.
1. Is "The Innocents" a more suitable title for the film than Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw"? How ironic is the title?
2. What was the initial effect of the close-up of the governess' hands at the opening with her anguished whispers of wanting only the best for the children? How effective was the flashback technique with the story framed in anguish?
3. How did Deborah Kerr convey the prim Victorian governess's character with its unexplored depths? How did she use facial expression, movement of the body and vocal inflection? How complex a character was she? When did the complexity begin to emerge?
4. In her interview with the Uncle, she said she had imagination. Truth was also mentioned. How much imagination did Miss Giddings have? Did she let it run away with her?
5. Some critics of the novel interpret the story literally, that Myles and Flora were possessed by Quint and Miss Jessell and that the governess saw the ghosts. The novel is, therefore, considered an exquisitely written ghost story. Others consider that the novel is far more psychologically subtle. The possession and the ghosts are all figments of the governess' subconscious, from a repressed Victorian imagination. Which interpretation do yon think the film followed? Why?
- was Miss Giddings a repressed Victorian governess?
- did anyone else see the ghosts besides Miss Giddings, e.g. the housekeeper?
- did Miss Giddings over-interpret events?
- were there mysterious events unexplained - e.g. the doll in the attic, the foot that Miss Giddings had never seen Miss Jessell nor Quint which meant she recognised their ghosts?
6. How fearful was Miss Giddings? Did her dreaming affect her?
7. What influence did Bly House itself have - its stairs, darkness, windows, battlements with the sun-glare, the lake, the rain?
8. Did her vicarage background influence her - her talk of souls, heaven, goodness, saving the children?
9. How were Myles and Flora presented - as charming, as precocious? How? Were their actions those of little children or not? Their talk? The way they addressed Miss Giddings? Their being tired of being good, their pranks and mischief? Myles' incantatory poem?
10. How bad was Myles at school? What influence did this have on Miss Giddings' estimate of him?
11. Suggestions were made that Miss Giddings was in love with the Uncle. She also kissed Myles as if she were in love with him. What does this suggest?
12. What did Miss Giddings finally do to Flora - did she sincerely try to make her admit the truth or did her madness and obsession make Flora mad?
13. Why did Miss Giddings want to have Myles to herself? How did she kill him? Why? How was her love for him suggested in the final sequences?
14. How cruel was Miss Giddings? How sane? How insane?
15. The story is one of ghosts and psychological horror. What techniques did the director use to achieve his effects - e.g. black and white photography, wide screen, light and darkness, sunlight and rain, the (floats, the statuary (and the spider), Victorian manners, facial close-ups etc?
