In high school, we had to read six books of our own choosing from a list provided by the english teacher, on top of our daily reading and studies. One of the books on the list was Henry James’ ghost story The Turn of the Screw. For two weeks, I tried penetrating James’ lovely lyrically twisted prose that wrapped itself into baroque knots trying to describe the events of the book without actually saying whether or not the events happened. I gave up about halfway through the very brief novel, fed up with the labyrinthine sentences that required about 10 minutes of study. Later, I read it at my own pace, and it’s a lovely creepy, and disturbed novel that never commits to reality.

The original novel is a story within a story that has a story in it. A couple rich guys are shooting the shit around a fire and telling ghost stories to each other. One of them tells of a marvelous diary he found written by a governess who took a job caring for two kids, only to discover that the estate she was working at was haunted. Or, was it? She interprets several events in the novel as evidence that the children have been conspiring with the ghosts, the spirits of the last governess and, her lover, the valet who ran the estate.

Jack Clayton’s The Innocents is a gorgeous telling of the governess’ story, strictly from her point of view. Written mostly by Truman Capote (and nominated for a Best Screenplay BAFTA), Clayton maintains James’ conviction that the events might have been real, or they might be the figment of an insane and devout young woman. Adding to that are two of the creepiest children this side of Village of the Damned. Flora and Miles are played with both emotional distance and neediness, they want to be accepted by the Governess, but they also have been rejected by so many people. Their mother and father abandoned them to go on a world tour before dying. Their uncle has rejected them. Their last governess was more interested in her sado-masochistic relationship with the valet, and they learned all about love from watching these two commit to each other. Of course the children are going to be awkward as hell, but the new governess, with her wild imagination, turns this awkwardness into a pure malevolence.

To get the proper performances from Flora and Miles, Clayton only gave them the parts of the screenplay that dealt with their scenes; scenes of innocent play. Though they may have played the parts with a hint of haunting malice, not even the actors knew exactly what was going on in the movie.

All of this is accented by a lush deep focus black and white Cinemascope image that gets increasingly baroque and wild as the horror encroaches. Though a period piece, there is just enough modern touches to make the movie feel timeless. Though it has a bit of a slow burn, Clayton constantly ratchets up the tension, pulling you in through every turn of the screw.

The Innocents streams on FilmStruck as part of the Criterion Collection