Nunca Me Olvides

Paul Cox's "Innocence" is a beautiful, poignant gem that deserves your attention. It is a film that manages to be both realistic and completely uncynical at the same time(an unusual achievement these days).

The story concerns two people who were lovers as teenagers, separated, and meet again fifty years later. Upon meeting again they realize that they're still in love. It probably sounds sickeningly corny but it doesn't play that way. Cox details how the reigniting of their affair affects the people around them(friends, his daughter, her son and husband)and allows time for exquisitely intelligent conversations, my favorite of which takes place between the male protagonist(Charles Tingwell)and a priest concerning the reality of God.

"Innocence" is luminous.Seek it out.

In these times of recovery from terrorist-caused disasters, as our country feels threatened with a kind of national paranoia, this lovely film brings its humanity to our torn psyches. It solves nothing...nor does it pretend to. The rare depiction of elderly lovers as well as the considerations of the relation of death to life in a non-maudlin fashion are to be applauded. Paul Cox has brought us a film to savor, rich with imagery, fine performances and thoughtful concepts. As with his splendid film "Lonely Hearts" the poignancy of relationship, and the need of the human spirit to be fulfilled through love and sexuality is dealt with sensitively and with a maturity of vision. I highly recommend this film to anyone, young or old, looking for more than sensationalism, special effects or a quick fix.

This film took my breath away. It's been many months, perhaps years, since I last felt so moved by a feature film.

Paul Cox has certainly outdone himself with this one. There were times when I was reminded of `A Woman's Tale', his offering from around ten years ago, particularly during the discussions about life, death and love. In particular, his theme about death being a part of life continues in this feature.

The performances of Tingwell, Blake and Norris are outstanding, and the scenes of intimacy are tasteful and beautiful. The Australian scenes were filmed in Adelaide, and this city scrubs up well and does the story justice.

Cox makes ample use of his usual visual signatures - faces through glass doors, reflections in water, wind chimes, caged birds, people talking from the other side of trees in autumnal glory. However, for me, the scene in the church when Andreas plays `Jerusalem' on the pipe organ, managed to gather together the visual with the aural, and deliver a hefty dose of the emotional as well.

An astonishing film, and the most believable love story I have ever seen on the big screen.

Writer, director Paul Cox's `Innocence' may be about senior-citizen love, but it really is about how we must be ready when love arrives or when it returns, no matter at what age. As a cautionary tale and a lyric expression of love's power, few current movies can match this film's quiet honesty.

At the same time, `Innocence' has enough aphorisms and platitudes about love and life to make it qualify for the `I am Sam/Majestic' sugar trophy. Heroine Claire's leaden comment, `Too much love is as bad as no love at all,' is one of the winners.

But then when she says to her elderly friend before their lovemaking, "If we're going to do this--let's do it like grownups. First, close the curtains. Then, close your eyes," I have to admit it made me consider that bedroom antics at any age are pretty goofy in the cold light of maturity. In this way, Cox has caught the humanity that crosses all age lines and doesn't need the excessive silent intercutting of numerous romantic reveries from the protagonists' youth.

If you see `Innocence,' you may never have to see another love story. The romance between these two almost 70 year olds is fraught with uncertainty, deception, longing, passion, and regret. It is honest about the choices we make and their consequences. It is hopeful about our ability to recoup our losses and begin again, even at life's end.

So, like our own lives and loves, the film is alternately sublime and ridiculous. View it if only to witness on film the first and last time you will see septuagenarians making love. Hey, they look just as silly as the rest of us.

Paul Cox's Innocence is an unconventional, often very poignant love story about an old man named Andreas (Charles Tingwell) who writes to his first love Claire (a simple yet complex Julia Blake) and the two meet again. Claire has had a husband John (Terry Norris) for a number of decades now, and yet by some powerful if inexplicable force they fall in love once again as they did when they were 16. However this affair comes as a shock to John, but the story unfolds as if it weren't trying to reach any total, formulaic conclusion; which is just one of the films many strong points.

The other strong points come from the terrific performances by Tingwell, Norris and especially Blake who act they're roles with a realism and heart you don't see often in love stories. And of course, Cox delivers fine direction and an even finer script to the mix. Only 2 flaws get in the way- things could've been explained a little better here and they're when it came to some of the reasoning and emotion, plus the ending was a downer. Otherwise, it's a quite worthwhile picture, especially for fans of Cox, or for anybody sick of seeing films up on the marqui with names like Glitter and Soul Survivors. Grade: Between A & A-