- One Student, One Teacher, One Secret Loving Annabelle is the controversial story of a Catholic Boarding School teacher, Simone Bradley (Diane Gaidry), who has an affair with her female student, Annabelle (Erin Kelly). Simone is Saint Theresa’s prized young poetry teacher who finds peace and security within the boarding school’s walls. Surrounded by a lush atmosphere with little conflict
Rising star Erin Kelly is Annabelle, a precocious Senator’s daughter who falls for her Catholic school teacher, Simone (Diane Gaidry, The Dogwalker). After Simone is assigned to control the rebellious student, she instead finds herself drawn into Annabelle’s world. As their attraction builds, the two women must cope with the reactions of those around them. Writer-Director Katherine Brooks unveils this smoldering tale of forbidden love with intelligence, wit and sensitivity.A lot of taboos are broken in Loving Annabelle, even if the film itself remains remarkably tasteful–even demure. The central characters are two women, a teacher and her student, and the setting is an all-girls school (shades of Lost and Delirious). Annabelle (the smoldering Erin Kelly), a senior, is a rebellious rocker chick–the Beverly Hills version that is, i.e. highlighted hair, black eyeliner, and nose ring. Her senatorial mother ships her off to boarding school to shape up. Annabelle’s hard-partying ways are starting to become an embarrassment. Miss Simone Bradley (the sympathetic Diane Gaidry) is a popular poetry teacher. She’s a Catholic. Annabelle is not. Simone has a boyfriend, Annabelle is gay. Looks can be deceiving, however, and there’s more to both than meets the eye. For one, Simone’s relationship is not as secure as it appears. For another, Annabelle’s ardor is so relentless it threatens to sway sympathy against her. She seems to have no regard for the damage an affair would inflict on her teacher’s career. Nonetheless, Simone is not entirely resistant to her charms. Inspired by 1931′s Mädchen in Uniform, writer/director Katherine Brooks preserves the forbidden relationship at the heart of the Weimar-era classic, but drops the political subtext. Consequently, she doesn’t take on more than she can handle, but Loving Annabelle still feels a little slight. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
Buy “Loving Annabelle” For Only $13.85
March 10, 2008
#1
Fortunately, this movie is very short. Unfortunately, it isn’t mercifully short. By now, you can probably tell that neither my wife nor I found much to like about it. One aspect of the movie that really grated on me is the music; it felt like a funeral dirge. As usual in progay movies, the Church has to be made out to be the ‘bad guy’ because it is the strongest force in society for morality. When one understands the Divine guidance of the Church, it becomes evident that all these progay movies are an attempt to deny the authority and power of the Divine.
The reason I give the movie a D and not an F is that it shows Annabelle as really a social and morality rebel. If she were in a Moslem school, she probably would have rebelled against the niqab. In the two previous secular schools she was kicked out of she undoubtedly found other ways to defy the rules. So, it makes sense that in a Catholic school she would choose one of the Church’s most vile sins to throw in the face of the nuns. There is nothing in the movie that indicates in any way that she had any prenatal or psychological compulsion to homoerotic sex.
As for the teacher, she is a pathetic person. One can’t decided if she needed compassion or deserved revulsion. How could she be a teacher in a Catholic school and not have any apparent sense of moral conflict in this situation? Was she raised to be such a weak person? Or was she unconsciously rebelling against Catholic doctrines? One thing is certain and that is that she was in severe violation of the proper teacher/student relationship. For that, she seems to have received what she deserved; an outcome that any male teacher in such a position would certainly have experienced.
I have enough movies about or for kids to watch two different movies every week for the next twenty five years, never seeing the same movie twice. With so much available to watch, the overwhelming majority better than this movie, why waste time on this one?
March 10, 2008
#2
This movie is not about being Lesbian, although it pretends to be. Does being unprofessional and inappropriate somehow lack import when it happens between two women? While there are so many opportunities for Annabelle’s TEACHER to draw an appropriate and professional line around Annabelle’s attempts at seduction, she seems to be completely unable to do so. Nor is she able to draw the line with a boyfriend she clearly has no interest in, even though she sleeps with him anyway. Nor can this teacher seem to be able to stand up to the Aunt who is her supervisor at work. Simone sets herself up as everybody’s doormat – and then wonders why her life falls out from under her. This isn’t love, folks. It’s seduction, betrayal and lust; which has nothing to do with love. The caring thing for Simone to do would have been to walk away – transfer Annabelle to another classroom, another school, or leave the school herself if she felt her life was getting out of control
Once the “love story” begins, we see no teaching take place. The other students are portrayed as either hostile or understanding, but no one seems to care what is happening to anyone’s education, including Annabelle’s.
There’s a reason the rules exist about teachers and students – and it’s not just because people “don’t understand.” It’s because they do. Don’t support this tripe. Students everywhere deserve better, and teachers who exhibit this behavior deserve no excuse.
March 10, 2008
#3
I wanna see this movie soo bad, could someone please tell me if its good? Could someone please write a review abt what they liked and didnt like about it? Cant wait to see it.
March 11, 2008
#4
I couldn’t watch more than 30 minutes or so of this. Boring, contrite, bad acting, horrible cheesy writing…. blech!
March 11, 2008
#5
Why are people giving this film so many stars? Not only is the movie incredibly short (a few minutes over an hour, which in and of itself makes it not warrant a $20 price tag), but it is also incredibly bad. Whether it be from a bad script (which it was) or by bad performances, the piece lacked a certain depth that is required for a good movie. This could have been a very good film – it had all the potential, but that potential was never realized.
Lesbian cinema is somewhat lacking in good films. Are we so desperate that we clutch onto any movie we can and call it good? There are standouts like ‘Fire’, ‘When Night Is Falling’, and more recently, ‘Nina’s Heavenly Delights.’ Those films are not only contain good, well-rounded plots where even secondary characters are not two-dimensional, but they feature excellent acting performances.
I am a hopeless romantic, and more than anything I want the girl to get the girl in the end. What’s unfortunate about this film is that I didn’t care in the end if that happened.
I wish I could get a refund for this…