loving annabelle

Film, 2006, 3.5 stars

Directed: Katherine Brooks
Written: Katherine Brooks (with Olivia Bohnhoff and Karen Klopfenstein)

Every year on the festival circuit one film inevitably creates more buzz than any other. For the 2006/07 season that film was Loving Annabelle. It's easy to see where the buzz came from, this film is gorgeously shot. Cinematographer Cynthia Pusheck’s work here is lush, an incredible low-budget achievement. There's not a single sharp edge in this dreamy, ethereal project.

This is provocative subject matter, no doubt about it. Power relationships between students and teachers can be a no-go area for some, and I’ve known people who truly loathed this film. I thought Loving Annabelle was OK, but not great, mostly because it is oddly sedate. I expected more passion, much more angst (considering the life-altering decisions these characters are making), and more painful conundrums.

Annabelle (Erin Kelly) is the rebellious daughter of a female Senator. She's just been kicked out of her second high school and has been dumped by her mother in a small, exclusive Catholic boarding school. She looks the part, with her constant smirk, hunched shoulders, streaked hair and relentless smoking, but Annabelle is not your average rebellious student.

Annabelle meets Simone (Diane Gaidry), a beautiful but troubled English teacher. Simone has had a tragic affair in her past, with a girl she grew up with. She's lived a stunted existence, dating a man she does not love and teaching at her old childhood school to stay close to the memories of the woman she lost. She responds to Annabelle instinctively, but her adult maturity warns her that doing anything would be inexcusably wrong.

Annabelle is sexually aggressive and somehow clued in to Simone's tragedy as no-one has been before. Regardless of how mature she seems though, Annabelle still reacts like an impetuous teenager, which is the only thing standing between Simone and disaster. However, Annabelle knows Simone can't resist her forever.

Erin Kelly's performance is the thing holding this all together. The film relies on Annabelle's believeability, and even though I think her dialogue left much to be desired, she has an excellent physical presence. There's a raw sexuality about her I can see would be difficult to resist, and the sex scene, once we get to it, is visceral and believeable.

If only they hadn't felt the need to shave off all the rough edges, this could have been brilliant. A few more risks should have been taken, with the script and the direction. There needs to be less lingering and more movement. More should have been made of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the boarding school setting, to really make us feel how trapped Simone feels, how she's unable to breathe until Annabelle comes along to throw open a few windows.