Synopsis

For the past few years, I have wanted to make an intimate film in contrast to The Long Good Friday, The Honorary Consul and A Sense of Freedom. The Innocent, dealing with the sharp emotions of family life in a close-knit community of a Yorkshire mill town in the troubled Thirties, is just that sort of film. This time of life when a child is about to become a man, when innocence is suddenly clouded over by adult emotions and desires, is an area I find intersting, involving and deeply moving. A chapter of life closed, never to be re-opened. It is sad but natural. And I think universal. Something in the style of Ray Jenkin’s writing found a strong echo in me, perhaps because we are both Celts. Nevertheless, I regard this film as truly European in concept and style. John Mackenzie