Overview
A haunting exploration of childhood innocence and the mysteries that lurk within.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- eerie
- dreamy
- inscrutable
- arthouse film night
- quiet evening
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film’s beauty, originality, and unsettling mystery, while acknowledging that its inscrutability can frustrate viewers.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The girls live and learn inside an isolated boarding school whose routines and ceremonies shape the film’s strange social environment.
Iris and the other girls encounter unexplained rules, disappearances, and adult behavior without receiving clear interpretive answers.
The school’s natural surroundings, formal compositions, and unusual child-centered rituals create beauty that is persistently unsettling.
The girls’ friendships, ceremonies, rivalries, and developmental transitions are presented as a shared, mysterious social experience.
Films like Innocence, and why
Picnic at Hanging Rock
shared enigmatic atmosphere, female adolescence, and unsettling institutional setting
The Virgin Suicides
shared surreal coming-of-age perspective, mysterious female community, and dreamlike ambiguity
The Reflecting Skin
shared experimental cinema, inscrutable mystery, and psychologically unsettling mood
Movie Details
- Director
- Lucile Hadžihalilović
- Release Date
- 2005-01-12
- Runtime
- 121 min
- Rating
- 6.4 / 10 (148)
Cast
- Zoé Auclair
- Lea Bridarolli
- Bérangère Haubruge
- Marion Cotillard
- Hélène de Fougerolles
- Olga Peytavi-Müller
- Alisson Lalieux
- Anna Palomo-Díaz
- Astrid Homme
- Joséphine Van Wambeke
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+
- Rent
- Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Innocence about?
- A visually hypnotic and unsettling portrait of girls growing up inside an isolated boarding school whose rituals conceal more than they reveal.
- What is Innocence like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Innocence as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Innocence violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Innocence.
- What did critics think of Innocence?
- Critics broadly praised the film’s beauty, originality, and unsettling mystery, while acknowledging that its inscrutability can frustrate viewers.
- Which films are like Innocence?
- Films with a similar feel include Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Virgin Suicides, and The Reflecting Skin.
- How long is Innocence?
- Innocence runs 121 minutes.
- Where can I watch Innocence?
- In United States, Innocence streams on Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+.
