Review of "Loving Annabelle"

This movie is amazing !

Honestly, I think this is one GREAT movie. And period.

But the one thing I didn't get right, or understand, is the hint that Mother Superior was a lesbian? There was one scene in which she was (I think) drunk and tried to make a move on Simone.

I thought that was the only thing I didn't like about the movie. I don't know, I just thought it would be too much if Mother Superior was a lesbian and interested in Simone too.

I didn't like this movie. I thought too much of the story was left out. It wasn't long enough and it didn't explain much. It was just a bunch of glances, fantasies and a forbidden love that didn't seem real to me.

I thought Annabelle was kind of annoying and not at all anyone a teacher would throw her entire life and career away for.

I couldn't believe the chemestry between them, probably because there wasn't any and they naturally stuck with the lesbian=death cliche with Simone's ex partner. How shocking!

This movie felt like a first draft. I kept thinking, this is it? Where's the rest of the movie? Please don't tell me this is the final product.

I'm not sure why most film makers chose to make bad lesbian films and expect us to be grateful that we even have any.

[West - The Writers Mafia]

the alternative ending is alot better then the theatrical ending. This ending finds annabel driving down PCH in a vdub convertible. She stops for fuel and notices a newspaper story which includes a pic of simone and a headline stating hat all charges against simone are dropped..she smiles to her self and head back to the car. The last shot is of her parking her car on the side of the road next to a set of stairs leading down to the beach. Then she skips down the steps and the scene fades as she reachs the beach and heads down the beach.

I cannot believe this movie got a decent review here. Ths movie was UTTER CRAP, and really poorly handled a serious moral issue. I'm down with bad gay films (there are sooooo many of them, after all), but this one left my skin crawling. The sex scene between the teacher and the student (a minor, as the film establishes at the ending) was just gross; it made my stomach turn. Any nagging thoughts the teacher has about whether it's ethical to sleep with one of your students are literally drowned in bathwater, and we are given no other sign of turmoil or inner conflict as she fucks her student, until she is caught. She initially says, "I can't..." AFTER Annabelle has felt her up a little, but a few weeks later she's good to go, and everything's cool. I guess there are ways to show this matter in an evenhanded way, but I was just left with the feeling that this teacher exploited her charge sexually AND emotionally, crying on her shoulder in one scene, being fucked by her in another. So icky.

I was glad they threw the book at her, and I found myself irritated that she wasn't lead out in handcuffs at the end. I found myself rooting for the school mistress for having the cajones to call the cops and do the right thing.

And the writing sucked, and there was little character development. Maybe I'd have more sympathy if they were made more likeable? Or something. This is no Lolita. The dialogue alone made me want to shoot myself in the head. The acting might have been OK but it was so hard to tell with the ridiculous lines the actors were given.

Oh, PS, what the HELL was up with the school mistress putting the moves on the teacher? THE SCHOOL MISTRESS WHO IS ALSO HER FRIKKIN' AUNT! So now there's a creepy incest thread here too?

Lesbians associated with statutory rape and incest: thanks, Katherine Brooks. Really appreciate that.

Rubbish film. The script was pathetic and the acting was appalling. And Annabelle fronting the band and singing to her teacher at the school do? Holy Mary Mother of fucking God!

Alice.

little girls- if you have an opinion- fine, love to hear it, can't wait, counting the bloody seconds- but since you obviously don't have one- don't pretend you do. stick a sock in your mouth (after you wash it out with soap of course. were you raised by wolves? do you kiss your mother with that mouth?), read a few books, watch a lot of movies, find out what a dictionary is and study, study, study. find out what you are talking about and then you will earn the right to have an opinion. you'll soon grow out of the ignorance of youth, try not to grow into an ignorant adult.

one more thing- the word fuck is really not as shocking as you seem to think. everybody knows the word fuck, either they have fucked, will fuck, are presently fucking or really, really wish they had someone to fuck... so remember--- profanity  is a verbal crutch for illiterate mother fuckers. 

one last thing- Loving Annabelle is brilliant. In complexity of structure, visual metaphorical content, the organic development of story and evolution of characters. You can know the brilliance of the sun without opening your eyes.

you twit

A MINOR? Granted there was an age difference, my guess is not more than ten years but Annabelle was a senior. Seniors are generally 18 and that isn't a minor. Plus Annabelle was the aggressor and unrelenting, the teacher held out way longer than I would have.

And yes, the head mistress was coming on to her, yes it would have been incest (ooo how creepy!) and yes, the old nun was a repressed lesbian who had to get pissed on wine to feel something besides the broom up her backside. and... that was the point. The repression of the nun and the jealousy of the girl who kissed Annabelle in the pool were there to present the homely- those who can- do- those who can't- crucify those who can.

duh

Good lord - seems I've upset the Catholics again. Actually, Your Censorshipness, I prefer the word 'cunt' to the word 'fuck'. (Is that metaphor or a euphemism?) I'll be arse-raped upside-down by a thesaurus-wielding fat Yankee nun if I know! 

Crikey. What a horrid little unerudite child am I.

Alice. x

I came today to apologize for my previous rude girl remarks. I was wrong to act the way I did. Loving Annabelle touched me deeply; I had just watched it 3 times in 2 days and seeing something negative about it brought out the Irish in me. I over reacted and thought- How dare you not love that film as much as I do? There must be something wrong with you because the movie I saw was perfect.

THEN I went to the quiet place and realized I was blind to the WHY of my love, just as I was blind to the WHY of your hate. It is an amazing film that can make every viewer feel right. You were right to hate it, I was right to love it. Because here’s the thing--- That was the whole point of the movie. The definition of pedophilia is the desire or the act of having sex with a child. Let me disambiguate that sentence- a person who uses their maturity to influence a less mature person. Annabelle may have been a minor, but would anyone call her a child? Simone was an adult but was she mature? Annabelle was a wild heart sent to the nuns to be tamed, Simone had been not only been tamed, she had been crushed. Annabelle was in prison and wanted freedom; Simone was in prison but was afraid to be free. Annabelle trusted love; Simone had seen love kill. The two women were mirror twins and mirror opposites. Who was the adult and who was the child? Who was the teacher and who was the student? If Annabelle had been younger in years, it would be clear that the teacher shouldn’t bugger the kid. If Simone had matured as she grew older instead of crushed emotionally, her culpability would be obvious. Simone tried to distance herself from Annabelle, telling her aunt that she was unable to control the girl. Her aunt, the head mistress, told her, ‘You’ll control her like I controlled you.’

Loving Annabelle is brilliant! You should hate it! The director only told us what we needed to know, drew a very thin grey line in the sand then challenged us to decide right from wrong. Amazing!

AND- one of you said, you wished they had taken Simone out in chains. Did you notice Simone was leaving in the same government entourage that brought Annabelle to the school? Was the senator, Annabelle’s mom, taking Simone for a ride?

Bolony. They just wanted a shag. That's the way the world is. Simple as that.

Alice. x

Well, I agree with ozzieparker. Alice, it's really not that simple. If they only wanted sex, both of them, the film would have ended after 30 minutes. I remind you that Annabelle had the opportunity to sleep with Cat and Simone has sex (although she doesn't enjoy it) with her boyfriend. The beauty of this film is the fact that it's so complex that you can watch it several times and discover each time something you missed before. If the sex is what's bothering you, then it's something you'll have to get used to because it is an important part of this beautiful game called love that two people sometimes get to play, no matter the gender, and it's something to enjoy as well.

Someone said that the carracters aren't developed enough and that the lines are stupid. Let me say that, from an artistic point of view, this film has just about everything it needs to have. It says just as much as it should. It might make you go back and see it more than once, but that's its quality, not its flaw. It's not the kind of movie you watch before you go to bed and fall asleep before it ends.

 As for the chemistry between the main carracters, I strongly disagree. You feel the chemistry between them right from the start. And the culmination is really amazing. If this is the impression it made on me, and I'm not even lesbian, I can only imagine the way it feels for those who recognize the patterns and thus know the way it goes all the way, and the pleasure it brings.

 And finally, the moral issue: it's all about "consenting adults", right? Here the only trouble is that sometimes it's too difficult to say when a person becomes an adult. I believe that Annabelle is way too mature to be qualified as a child and acts as an adult. No moral issue standing here for me.

Oh, cripes - think I'll stick to documentaries - at least there is a modicum of reality in them.

"If the sex is what's bothering you, then it's something you'll have to get used to because it is an important part of this beautiful game called love that two people sometimes get to play, no matter the gender, and it's something to enjoy as well."

Priceless.

Alice. x 

Can we also acknowledge that is was shot in 20 days with no budget? That Diane Gaidry came in 3 days before shooting? With those things taken into account - it was brilliant. I agree there are holes and gaps in the story - the editing is interesting (not necessarily in a good way), and the relationship wasn't allowed to build as it should. Let's not crucify Katherine, Diane and Erin for that. The chemistry was incredible even if you don't take that into account.

Also  can I mention that Diana Gaidry makes my heart ache? She plays heartbreaking open vulnerability so well.

I suppose some people will relate to anything - even mediocrity. Myself, I don’t care to offer an ‘educated reason’ for why some people are weaker than others when it comes to sex. And if I did, I would - when I choose.

And budget cuts is no excuse for weakness of narrative (oops - almost an educated reason).

Hee haw.

Alice. x

ever to walk the planet acts the part of Manuela in Maedchen in Uniform. But quite apart from that, it's a really good movie - can totally recommend it. Looking forward to seeing this (sort of) remake...

"Le beau c'est le vrai" - Millet

Honestly, this movie was pretty awful in terms of development, choreography and movement.  The poetry reading was anemic: Simone had as much passion in her voice as Rilke might have had reading Chinese from his grave. The leading actresses were eye candy, the sex scene(s) okay, but here again is your story by an angst-ridden, horny teen who never quite outgrows her unrequited love, idealistic fantasy for "true love" played out in film.  Gag me.  I've nothing against love, but immature material tends to turn "immaterial."    

If you really want to read a brutally honest, albeit subjective review, go to moviepie:

http://www.moviepie.com/filmfests/loving_annabelle.htm

all things considered, I liked the movie. There's just this one thing. Annabelle was the aggressor? A pretty lame aggressor, no? She was rather passive and Simone pretty much had to seduce herself.  On the other hand Simone was not exactly straight, so that does shorten the seduction time considerably. But really, what did Annabelle do other than register interest?  Watching this gives the wrong impression that it's somehow easy to seduce women older than yourself. You really don't have to do anything, You just say your're interested, she'll cry a bit and then she's all yours.  But getting older women to give you the time of day must truly be one of the top 5 most difficult things anyone can ever hope to do.  And from her giving you the time of day to actually having sex with you it is not exactly straightforward and inevitable. I wanted to see Annabelle fight for Simone a bit more. This was too easy.  

It was titilating I will grant you that, but I really cannot get past the legalities of the content of this movie.  There is so much crap going on in our schools these days, where it is not titilating, sexy, sensual or even forbidden love, that to produced a movie where it glorifies this type of  "love" is rather scary. 

But there has to be some suspension of disbelief when watching any movie.  Who hasn't had a forbidden crush on a young sexy teacher? Come on, all we all have and making a movie about it should be simply fun, and I think this one is. I know, I am wavering. 

I am with West, who says that not enough information was given, not enough character or story development.  But, we're getting better. Lesbian films, books and tv are improving, we just have to be fair and patient with writers, directors and producers.  Eventually something awesome will come our way. Sarah Waters is proof that there are good lesbain writers out there who tell very good stories, several of which were very well produced by the BBC.

My two cents... and this movie, while it may not be the very best ever, is still worth watching and it does make you pull for the two lovers.

the note reads: "..but darkness seems to find me.."  [Took me a while to figure it out]

I've seen it 4 days ago and I'm still reeling, dear Lord but Diane Gaidry is good!!! I heavily disagree with criticism about underdeveloped characters, anybody a bit sensitive could have followed Gaidry's, and ok, Kelly's was a bit eeehh underdone, she is a little wooden...But I don't care :D. Great movie, and greatly undervalued

This is the greatest movie ever made. I keep a copy of it up my fish channel.

Alice. x.

I was somewhat heart-broken to see the sudden tragic and apathetic ending. Since the beginning of civilisation philosophers, psychologists, many scholars and like had debated against the superiority of love that a woman can offer to all of man kinds (to both men and to women) .I personally view that of women are definitely superior to the others. Since the majority of us do not experience temporary loss of vision or complete loss of consciousness due to deep sedation for major surgery such as open heart or open skull procedures. Using artificial Heart and lung machine, often the heart is removed outside the sternum whilst surgeon can work on. Such a procedures can cause tremendous trauma to your psyche. It is not unusual for patient and nurse to develop an almost like loving attachment to each other from the moment the nurse transfers you from a rolling bed to a recovery bed, then calling your name and caressing you as if rescuing you from desolated realm of unconscious. If you compare it with the same task performed by male surgical assistants at operating room ,you will be impressed with the fact that a woman's love is a priceless enlightenment. It is highly likely that someone like Simone already had learnt the enlightenment. Every female child has dreams of being swept up into a great adventure, of being the beautiful princess. Lamentably, when women grow up, they are often swept up into a life filled merely with demands, duty and responsibility. Many women are tired, struggling under the merciless pressure to be of a faithful servant, or a caregiver for children, husband or father and like. I have known an award winning blind female writer back in Japan and her nurse companion who helped her publishing her novels until the end of writer's life age 72. The nurse died next summer found afloat on River Kamo during Gion Festival (Buddhist Spiritual season) leaving a will to be buried next to the writer. In fact I have seen them twice together on the bridge across a pond within the property of an ancient Buddhist temple in 1970's. Nurse were eyes to the writer and describing everything that the nurse can see. The both women looked very beautiful radiating the glory of love between them. They both were descendant of ancient noble families go back to 11th century and their presence seemed to enhance the tranquillity of the mid-autumn setting. I could not help but wishing their happy union forever from the moment I saw the strength and intensity of woman's love. It has forever changed my attitude about woman's love. So let's give the two women a break, and let them pursue their happiness!.

Julien Kujo a.k.a.,Pinecloud, Palo Alto, CA., USA