The Innocent

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Dennui S @dennui Mar 28, 2026 Good acting, the plot is rather original. A bit bland. See more Rob W @Mr_Inbetween Feb 23, 2025 I loved this movie, we saw it on kanopy. See more Vision N @RT69603478 Nov 14, 2024 How to remove my rating from the movie, that I haven't watch? Rated by mistake. See more Steve C @RT19610513 Nov 18, 2023 Thanks for all the caviar. The penguins love 'em See more Neil J @RT80881348 Sep 30, 2023 Hmmmm I was expecting some kind of taught thriller but it's average at best. There's a distinct lack of tension throughout and it lags. Needs more twists to get more stars. See more Alan W @PatronWong Sep 21, 2023 I was mostly confused watching Louis Garrel's film, inspired by his mother who, like his film character Abel's mother, is also a drama teacher in a prison who ends up marrying one of the inmates. Assuming the rest stems from his imagination instead of being autobiographical, the Cesar-winning screenplay which Garrel co-wrote is a hotch-potch of half-baked ideas that didn't cohere for me. Beginning as a farcical comedy, it dips in and out of romance and ends up a heist movie, which is not a problem per se and this genre blending can work if done right. Unfortunately here it just feels jarring. So when Garrel's Abel becomes suspicious of Roschdy Zem's Michel's intentions after he marries his mother, Anouk Grinberg's Sylvie, hilarity is supposed to ensue when Abel begins following Michel around Lyon, badly. However, I just find the central characters neurotic and irritating, especially Abel. The only saving grace is Noemie Merlant's Clemence, Abel's dead wife's best friend who still lingers around him, whose charming presence brightens up the screen whenever she's on but the will-they-won't-they is so obvious from the beginning, I won't even bother talking around it here as it's no spoiler to speak of. The film manages momentarily to spark to life as it reaches its third act heist, and that cafe scene in which Abel declares his true feelings almost by accident is the one decent scene in the whole film that I enjoy, but then it's all downhill from there with a disjointed ending which lacks credibility and seems artificially constructed only to set up a book-ending scene that makes the film symmetrical. By this point frankly, I don't really care and I can only chalk this mess down to the mystifying French sense of humour which must have bypass me entirely. See more Read all reviews

The Innocent

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