CARNAL INNOCENCE

US, 2011, 90 minutes, Colour.
Gabrielle Anwar, Colin Egglesfield, Andrew W. Walker, Jud Tylor, Ed Lauter, Brad Rowe, Shirley Jones.
Directed by Peter Markle.

Carnal Innocence is based on a popular novel by Nora Roberts. Nora Roberts has a strong following – but her novels would not make many converts for any viewer looking at this version. Innocence is the name of a town – but with a serial killer in the town, an emphasis on relationships and sexuality, it is carnal.

The film is very much a soap opera telemovie, directed by Peter Markle, who has worked mainly in television.

It is set in Mississippi, focusing on Gabrielle Anwar as a violinist who returns to her grandmother’s house. In the meantime there is a focus on the Longstreet family, especially the spoilt Tucker Longstreet (Colin Egglesfield), his disreputable brother (Brad Rowe) and his sister (Jud Tylor). There is a series of murders, especially of women who have been in some kind of relationship with Tucker Longstreet, one claiming to be pregnant by him. Her father, played by Ed Lauter, bursts out – in an over-the-top performance – attempting to kill Longstreet but is killed by Gabrielle Anwar. His slow son, Cy, is employed by Tucker and collaborates with him, warning Tucker against the attack of his father.

The settings are quite lavish, there is a recreation of the Mississippi town and a Fourth of July parade. Shirley Jones appears in some scenes as the matriarch.

The love story is completely unconvincing, the character portrayed by Gabrielle Anwar at the beginning is not likely to fall in love with Tucker Longstreet – but the screenplay requires this. Ultimately, the mad killer is revealed, there is a fight between the heroine and the killer – and then a kind of happy ever after ending.

The film can be seen as a poor example of telemovies and the soap opera approach to characters and values.