The Innocents
Mise-en-scene / Truman Capote
Presentation by Anna Moamenpour and Patrick Flisakowski
Film Overview
Directed by:
Produced by:
Written by
Novella:
Screenplay:
Jack Clayton
Jack Clayton
Henry James
William Archibald
Truman Capote
John Mortimer
Starring:
Deborah Kerr
Michael Redgrave
Music by:
Cinematography:
Editing by:
Georges Auric
Freddie Francis
Jim Clark
Distributed by:
Release date(s):
Country:
20th Century Fox
December 25, 1961
UK
The Characters
Actor
Role
Deborah Kerr
Peter Wyngarde
Megs Jenkins
Michael Redgrave
Martin Stephens
Pamela Franklin
Clytie Jessop
Miss Giddens
Peter Quint
Mrs. Grose
The Uncle
Miles
Flora
Miss Jessel
Other Characteristics
• Color Type
black & white
• Genre / Type
horror
haunted hause film
gothic film
supernatural horror
• Set in
• Setting
victorian era
country estate in England
Themes
• MENTAL INSTABILITY
• DIFFICULT CHILDREN
• GHOSTS
Tones
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ATMOSPHERIC
UNDERSTATED
EERIE
AUSTERE
CREEPY
OMINOUS
DELIBERATE
SPELLBINDING
Themes vs. Filminterpretation
 MENTAL INSTABILITY
The governess is not stable and her mental condition slowly
disintegrates as she stays longer, leading her to create more and more
paranoid dillusions.
 DIFFICULT CHILDREN
It is all a plot by the maid and the children to get rid of the governess.
For example the ghost only ever appears on the lake after one of the
kids has been in the boat on the lake. There is always someone missing
who could be operating a dummy.
 GHOSTS
There is a supernatural explanation/the place is haunted.
Truman Capote and „The Innocents“
• Edgar Allan Poe Award for T. Capote
category: Best Motion Picture, “The Innocents” 1962
• “Truman Capote`s contribution to the screenscript gives the film a
Southern Gothic feel.” (Christopher Frayling)
• “When I got to work on the script, I saw how artful James has been.
He did everything by allusion and indirection. I made only one
mistake. At the very end of the film, when the governess sees the ghost
of Miss Jessel sitting at her desk, I had a tear fall on the desktop. Up
untill then it was not clear whether the ghosts were real, or only in the
governess´ mind. But the tear was real, and it spoiled everything.”
(Truman Capote)
Truman Capote
Biographical Note
•
Original Name: Truman Streckfus
Persons
•
Born: 30-Sep-1924
Birthplace: New Orleans,
Died: 25-Aug-1984
Location of death: Los Angeles,
Cause of death: unspecified
•
•
Nationality: United States
Father: Archulus Persons
Mother: Lillie Mae Faulk (d. 1954,
suicide)
Father: Joseph Garcia Capote
(stepfather)
•
High School: Trinity School, New York
City,
Some striking analogies between Truman Capote´s
biography and the plot of „The Innocents“
• brought up without parents
• very mature as a child
• spent childhood in a large house
• brought up in a tradition of keeping private life secret
• fond of imaginative plays, making up stories, pretending
things
Major Works by Truman Capote
• Novels: Other Voices, Other Rooms · The Grass Harp · Breakfast at
Tiffany's · Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel
• Short story collections: Music for Chameleons · A Tree of Night and
Other Stories · The Complete Stories of Truman Capote · A Capote
Reader
• Essay collections: The Dogs Bark
• Plays: The Grass Harp
• Screenplays: Beat the Devil · The Innocents · The Great Gatsby
• Musicals: House of Flowes
• Non fiction: The Muses Are Heard · In Cold Blood · The Letters of
Truman Capote
Mise-en-scene Analysis
CLASSICAL CATEGORY OF MISE-ES-SCENE
 Unobtrusive style – subordinate to the developement
 Showing and narrating balance – linked to the function
 Coherent fictional world
 Credibility – within the fictional world
Parallel Development of the Plot and
Mise-en scene Elements
• First part of the film:
- a lot of light, sunny weather
- cheerful sounds of nature, music
- light costume colors
- affectionate performance (emotions of
delight, admiration, charm)
- setting of prospering and well balanced country
estate
The First Ghost Vision Scene
The Turning Point in the Film
• Canted frame – changed perspective
• Shot against the sun – overlighted, blending
• Props carrying images of nature´s prosperity and
decay ( birds chirping, butterflies, roses – smelling
in the heat of the noon, ugly insects, broken
statues, weeds, flies buzzing)
• Penetrating sound and following silence on the
perception of the apparition on the tower
More Parallels between the Development
of the Plot and Mise-es-scene
• Second part of the film:
- bad weather, less light, clouds and rain
- night darkness, spare candle light (extra darkened
frame-edges)
- strong wind blowing in the open windows,
curtains flying, candles blown up
- dark costumes
- disturbed emotions (fear, disgust, contempt, weeping,
sobbing, screaming, cruel laughter, whispering,)
Showing and Narrating Balance
• We see and hear only what Miss Giddens saw and heard:
- flashback – introduced by a superimposition (wipe) and a
changed timbre of vioce
• Composition balance in scenes of conversations:
- foreground, background
- both persons (speaking and listening) are turned
with their face to the camera – we see the performance of
both, but the persons do not see each other
• The story narrated by Mrs. Grose has similarly „bad
effect“ on Miss Giddens, as the overwhelming nature,
frightfully large estate and the children´s acting strange.
Miss Giddens´ House and Childhood
Inscription of the Scenetext
- Giddens: I lived in a very small house.
- Miles: Too small for you to have secrets?
- Giddens: Well secrets were a bit difficult.
- Flora:
But possible?
- Giddens: Not for long. Secrets require a privacy
that our little room did not provide.
- Flora:
Did you play games in your house?
- Giddens: No. We had to be quiet usually because
my father was preparing his sermon. But
if he went out we'd play hide and seek all over the
house.
Coherant Fictional World
• The plausibility of the things happening is
guaranteed by a constant point of view of Miss
Giddens
- apparitions of condemned ghosts
- childrens´ wickedness and possession
- steps taken to solve the situation (exorcist`s task)