Loving Annabelle
| Loving Annabelle | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster | |
| Directed by | Katherine Brooks |
| Written by | Katherine Brooks Olivia Bohnhoff Karen Klopfenstein Jennifer Young |
| Produced by | Katherine Brooks Gregory Carroll |
| Starring | Diane Gaidry Erin Kelly |
| Cinematography | Cynthia Pusheck |
| Edited by | Lori Ball |
| Music by | Aurah |
Production company | Divine Light Pictures |
| Distributed by | Wolfe Releasing (USA) |
Release dates | March 8, 2006 (Australia) March 10, 2006 (USA) May 20, 2006 (Canada) |
Running time | 76 minutes |
| Country | Template:Film US |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $900,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | $4,200,000 (Worldwide) |
Loving Annabelle is a 2006 film directed by Katherine Brooks. Based on Mädchen in Uniform, it tells the story of a boarding school student who falls in love with her teacher. It was filmed at Marymount High School in Los Angeles.[1][2]
Plot
Annabelle Tillman, the daughter of a senator, is sent to a Catholic boarding school after being expelled from two of her previous schools. Simone Bradley, a poetry teacher at the school, is in charge of her dormitory. Annabelle shares the dormitory with an amiable classmate, Christen. Katherine, who tends to bully people, and Colins, a student with a nervous disposition, also share the room.
Simone is a dependable and respectable teacher who occasionally bends the rules out of concern for her students. Her personal life is synonymous with abiding by the conventions of society and religion. Annabelle is her antiagent – with unrestrained behavior, unconventional choices and outright defiance for authority.
Annabelle receives a stern rebuke from the principal, Mother Immaculata, for audaciously flaunting her Buddhist prayer beads. Simone is given the responsibility of controlling her. At first Simone requests the principal to move Annabelle to another dormitory but soon notices her maturity and sensitivity and convinces her to comply with the school regulations. In the process Annabelle falls in love with Simone.
Simone resists Annabelle’s delicate overtures until they are left alone at the school during spring break. Simone drives Annabelle to her beach house where Annabelle discovers painful personal details about Simone’s past. Annabelle holds Simone tightly in her arms as Simone breaks down. A deep emotional connection is established between the two.
Simone fights a hard battle with herself but is eventually overpowered by Annabelle’s relentless pursuit. At the annual school dance when Annabelle pours her heart out with the song – "In the space between what’s wrong and right; you will find me waiting for you…" Simone is consumed by intense emotions and kisses Annabelle. They end up making passionate love.
The next morning Mother Immaculata walks in on them getting dressed and demands to see Simone in her office immediately. On being questioned if she did the right thing Simone admits that she loves Annabelle. Government officials arrest Simone and just as she is leaving, Annabelle places her most prized possession – the Buddhist prayer beads – in her hands.
Annabelle tearfully looks at her pictures taken by Simone at the beach house while Simone is driven away. The movie ends with the following quote – ‘For one human being to love another that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks…the work for which all other work is but preparation.’
Alternate ending
The DVD release contains an alternate ending in which Annabelle can be seen driving to an unknown destination. She stops off at a road-side store and picks up the latest copy of the newspaper. The headline is that no charges have been brought on the teacher in the lesbian sex scandal at a school. Annabelle is then seen parking on the side of the road before going down towards Miss Bradley's beach house.
Trivia
The title and character name of Annabelle is a reference to Nabokov's novel "Lolita" in which the main character Humbert Humbert falls in love with a twelve year old girl named Lolita who strongly reminds him of a girl named Annabel whom he loved when he was twelve but who he was separated from. The theme of forbidden (illicit) love between an adult and a minor is present in both the film "Loving Annabelle" and the novel "Lolita".
Cast
- Erin Kelly as Annabelle Tillman
- Diane Gaidry as Simone Bradley
- Gustine Fudickar as Catherine
- Laura Breckenridge as Colins
- Michelle Horn as Kristen
- Ilene Graff as Mother Immaculata
- Markus Flanagan as Michael
- Leslie Andrews (as Lesli Andrews) as Martha
- Kevin McCarthy as Father Harris
Awards
- 2006 Audience Award (Katherine Brooks)
Fort Worth Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival
- 2006 Q Award- Narrative Feature (Katherine Brooks)
- 2006 Audience Award (Katherine Brooks)
- 2006 Grand Jury Award- Best Actress (Diane Gaidry)
- 2006 Audience Choice Award- Narrative Feature (Katherine Brooks)
- 2006 Jury Award (Katherine Brooks)
References
- ^ Lacey Worrell. "DVD Talk". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
- ^ "The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
External links
- Official website
- Loving Annabelle (2006) at IMDb
- Loving Annabelle at AllMovie
- Loving Annabelle at ELMS
- Review of "Loving Annabelle", AfterEllen.com
- Loving Annabelle at MoviePie
