Paul Cox's Innocence (2000) brings together three of the director's favorite themes: a sympathetic and nuanced portrayal of mature characters, a focus on romantic relationships, and a fascination with memory. In this film, an elderly couple in Australia reignites a love affair from their youth in Belgium immediately after the war. In an interview with the critic Molly Haskell at the time of the film's U.S. release, Cox stated that the source of inspiration was a family reunion photograph: "Mother and Father never got on that well, but they were caught walking away from the camera on a curling path. They were close together, arms around each other in a way they never did in life. There was something forlorn and beautiful about it. It was, for me, a sudden illumination: the world as it really is." Elsewhere, Cox has described the film as being about "the sense of loss and the sense of longing which we all carry through our lives."

Paul Cox was born in 1940 in Venlo, the Netherlands. His father Wim Cox was a photographer and documentary filmmaker; one can see excerpts from his 1936 film "Course of Life" in Gerrit Messiaen and Robert Visser's 1996 documentary entitled A Journey with Paul Cox, which is available on the DVD edition of Vincent (1987). In 1963 Paul Cox moved to Australia, where he opened a photographic studio, taught filmmaking in an art school, and made a series of documentary films. His first widely seen feature was Kostas (1979), a drama about a relationship between a middle-aged Greek immigrant and a younger woman. Lonely Hearts (1982) extended his success with greater critical acclaim and U.S. distribution.

Cox's real international breakthrough was Man of Flowers (1983), which drew an enthusiastic response after its screening in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes film festival. The use of Super8 film stock during its flashback scenes stands out as one of the director's most memorable stylistic touches. Cox has continued to use Super8 footage in many of his subsequent films, including Innocence, explaining that it has "a much stronger sense of the past." Despite the challenges of independent filmmaking and his choice of decidedly non-commercial topics -- such as an elderly woman dying of cancer in A Woman's Tale (1991) -- he has managed to produce nearly thirty feature-length films, TV movies and documentaries to date.

Innocence was shot on a budget of under $900,000; the decision to set the flashback scenes in Belgium was due in part to Belgian funding requirements. The prolific lead actor Charles "Bud" Tingwell (1923-2009) was perhaps best known for his performance as Denny in Breaker Morant (1980). Julia Blake is a longtime collaborator with Paul Cox, having appeared in most of his major films. Terry Norris, the actor who plays Claire's husband John, is Julia Blake's real-life husband.

When the film was released in the U.S., Molly Haskell compared it favorably to A Woman's Tale, writing that Innocence is "no less adventurous in its absolute indifference to the youth demographics that dominate movie thinking, or in its breaking of the taboo against love among the elderly. Roger Ebert praised it as "the most passionate and tender love story in many years." The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Taormina International Film Festival "for the originality of its theme, the warmth of its approach and its superior performances."

Production, Script and Direction: Paul Cox
Music: Paul Grabowsky
Directory of Photography: Tony Clark
Film Editing: Simon Whitington
Production Design: Tony Cronin
Cast: Julia Blake (Claire); Charles "Bud" Tingwell (Andreas); Kristine Van Pellicom (Young Claire); Kenny Aernouts (Young Andreas); Terry Norris (John); Marta Dusseldorp (Monique); Robert Menzies (David); Chris Haywood (Minister); Norman Kaye (Gerald); Joey Kennedy (Sally); Liz Windsor (Maudie); Dawn Klingberg (Restaurant Owner); Peter Berger (Doctor #1); Kate Roberts (Doctor #2).
C-94m.

by James Steffen

Sources:
Ebert, Roger. Review of Innocence. Chicago Sun-Times, September 7, 2001.
Haskell, Molly. "Daring to Make a Love Story of Life's Last Chapter." New York Times. August 19, 2001, p.AR9.
Lewis, Glen. Australian Movies and the American Dream. New York: Praeger, 1987.
French, Lisa. "An overview of Innocence and Paul Cox's comments at the 49th Melbourne International Film Festival." Metro Magazine, No. 124/125 (2000): 16-19.