The Innocents of Jack Clayton - Movie Review Example

The Innocents. In the movie The Innocents, directed by Jack Clayton, one of the main characters is Mrs. Giddens, an insecure and paranoid woman who in her need of affirmation becomes mentally unstable. Because of her need for affirmation, she tries desperately to capture the attention of people around her, by making up stories of ghosts. The faults in her character lead her to become apprehensive, authoritarian and furthermore, a killer. Although Mrs Giddens is the most dominant character of the film, and her fear of ghosts is a key part in the narrative, the title of the film reveals that one of the major themes is the nature of childhood innocence, since it is the children who suffer the immediate consequences of the main character’s actions. Mrs. Giddens’s need for affirmation lead her to escape for her native town and obtain a new job based on lies. At the beginning of the story, the audience becomes aware that Mrs. Giddens wants to escape from her everyday reality. She seems to be unhappy in her native small town as she applies for a job that is far away from her home. The new job in a large house in the countryside opens up the opportunity to start a new life as governess. Furthermore, during her first job interview, she tries to convince her possible employer that she can do and be whatever she needs to do in order to be hired. She states: “But above anything else, I love the children” (The Innocents). Mrs. Giddens appears to be a typical, traditional woman. She wants to receive approval and she has an obvious need to be accepted. Her wish to work with children can be interpreted as a normal motherly instinct, but it also could be interpreted as something more sinister: Mrs Giddens needs to be in control and the audience could notice that she does have a low level of self-esteem. Mrs. Giddens realizes that the need to hire a new governess is an emergency and so she takes advantage of that situation. She pretends to be a good person in whom the uncle of the two orphan children can trust. The director portrays Mrs. Giddens as rather pretty, normal person who will do whatever needs to be done to make the children happy. At first it is not obvious that there may be some hidden intentions behind the pleasant exterior of Mrs. Giddens. When she mentions that her goal or priority is making the children happy rather than to give them a good education this shows that she is not logical and objective. Mrs. Giddens does not have a clear idea that the roll of a governess is to educate the children and make them into productive individuals. She takes advantage of the situation showing herself as compassionate person who wants the children to be happy. This suits the uncle, who is not very interested in the welfare of the two children. He just wants to enjoy himself without any worries. Both of the adults betray the children by neglecting their real needs. The goal of Mrs. Giddens seems to be to capture the attention of people by making up stories about ghosts. Mrs. Giddens portrays herself as a special person who is able to see and communicate with the ghosts that apparently surround the house. Again, she takes advantage of this situation creating an environment of fear and instability. She takes control over the house and manipulates Mrs. Grose, and she even becomes apprehensive with the children. Mrs. Giddens wants to know everything that the children are doing. When Flora, the young girl under her care, starts to sing a song Mrs Giddens does not play the role of teacher. Instead she is anxious to know the importance of this particular song that Flora sings: “We lay my love and I, beneath the weeping willow. But now alone I lie and weep beside the tree. "Oh willow waly" by the tree that weeps with me. "Oh willow waly" till my lover return to me. We lay my love and I beneath the weeping willow. A broken heart have I. Oh willow I die, oh willow I die...” (The Innocents). During this scene there is an image of a silent ghost watching the child, and the audience might think that that Mrs. Giddens is not the only person that see ghost. The director does not make this clear, and so the audience questions whether there really is a ghost, or whether it is only Mrs. Giddens who imagines it. In the film Mrs Giddens uses this scene as evidence of danger and tells Mrs. Grose that Flora will sleep with her so that Mrs Giddens can protect her. This is unreasonable behavior by normal standards, but the ghosts are used as a justification for it. Because Mrs. Grose is an uneducated person, Mrs. Giddens has an advantage, and she assumes control and the authority to make decisions. The audience can perceive how Mrs. Gidden manipulates Mrs. Grose by not giving her the opportunity to express her opinion. Mrs. Giddens never allows Mrs. Grose to finish talking. Mrs. Giddens even finishes Mrs. Grose’s sentences and by doing that, she shows that she does not have any interest in hearing Mrs. Grose’s opinion. Even though Mrs. Grose disagrees with her, Mrs. Grose is not in a position to stand up to Mrs. Giddens in her arguments about the presence of ghosts because she is afraid to lose her job and go against Mrs. Giddens words. The relationship between the two women gives the audience a clue that Mrs Giddens is not such a nice person after all. Although there is a lot of ambiguity throughout the film, particularly about the reason why Miles was expelled from school, and the nature of the ghosts that appear to be haunting the house, it all becomes much clearer in the closing scene. Mrs Giddens forces Miles to talk to her alone, and to say the name of the male ghost, and then he is mysteriously killed, by what looks like the hand of the ghost. When Mrs Giddens looks at the camera with staring eyes, and kisses the dead child on the lips, the audience finally realizes that she is mad, and with this knowledge, they realize the ghosts are not real, and that it is Mrs Giddens herself who brings harm to the innocent children. Reference The Innocents. Dir. Jack Clayton. Perf. Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave, Megs Jenkins. Based on the novella by Henry James. Screenplay by William Archibald and Truman Capote. 20th Century Fox. 1961. Film. Read More