Our Rating: 4.00
Proving that great love stories aren’t the sole property of the young, Australian director Paul Cox gives the geriatric generation a timeless tale of love and loss with “Innocence.”
Nearly 50 years after an intense affair with Claire (Julia Blake), widowed musician Andreas Borg (Charles “Bud” Tingwell) finds that she still lives in the same town and looks her up. After Andreas professes that his love is still there after all these years, the unhappily married Claire sets out on a physical and emotional reunion with Andreas, and at the same time confronts her own unhappiness with her celibate marriage and selfish husband John (Terry Norris).
Cox weaves images of the young lovers with their older counterparts, nicely paralleling the youthful physical appearance of Andreas and Claire with their aged appearance today. Cox is courageous in his presentation of the older couple’s sexual relationship, pushing the boundaries of what we may be accustomed to seeing with older actors, but always maintaining good taste.
It would have been easy to discard the character of John, the jilted husband, but Cox brings the story of his pain and his attempts to once again woo his wife as well to the forefront, carving out essentially two separate love stories.
“Innocence” takes a brave look at the need for emotional and physical love, no matter one’s age, and proves a memorable glimpse into the lives of characters who are so often merely forgotten.
This article appears in Nov 7-13, 2001.