A very compelling drama handled extremely well (Loving Annabelle (DVD))

Member Name: Great_reviewer07

Product:	Loving Annabelle (DVD)
Date:	13/06/09 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great acting, compelling story

Disadvantages: Very slow

When the daughter of the Senator, 17 year old Annabelle Tillman (Erin Kelly) is sent to a Catholic boarding school to keep her out of trouble, the one thing that Annabelle decides to make is trouble. Annabelle is caught smoking several times by teachers, she also starts a fight between her and another pupil. She does however make a few new friends and gradually fit in.

The teachers at the school are extremely strict and wont stand for any of Annabelle's troublesome behaviour, there is one teacher however that seems to connect with Annabelle on some level and that is Simone (Diane Gaidry), also known as Miss Bradley. Miss Bradley is intrigued by Annabelle's rebellious behaviour and she can see that it's just a cover up to hide her true self. Annabelle quickly takes a shine for Miss Bradley and the two become close, on a totally platonic form. That is until Spring Break arrives and while all the other girls go off to see their families, Annabelle is stuck at school so to cheer her up Miss Bradley takes her to her house for the afternoon where Annabelle discovers that although in a heterosexual relationship, Miss Bradley is actually a lesbian. Could this be the start of something?

First of all I want to start off by stating that I am not a lesbian myself, this isn't normally the sort of film that would interest me and to be completely honest it still isn't. My boyfriend got hold of a copy of the DVD (not sure how) but I think in his mind this was going to be a complete lesbian sex fest which lets face it, is every man's fantasy isn't it?

I ended up watching this with my boyfriend after being asked to, (I've tried really hard not to ask myself why but I still wonder!), I was sceptical about watching it after hearing the somewhat deluded synopsis from my testosterone driven boyfriend! I quickly figured out that at only a 15 rating this wasn't going to be the soft porn that he was hoping for and instead more of a thought-provoking drama.

The storyline is nothing original, unless you count the fact that it's between two girls. I personally don't like how all these gay and lesbian films come out which are said to 'break the mould' just because it involves two people of the same sex yet a similar film has probably already been done involving a man and a woman. I'm in no way homophobic but that simply baffles me!

This is something that has been done numerous times before, I've never seen any lesbian films before as not being one myself but I've seen films which revolve around teacher/student relationships whether straight or gay. Notes On A Scandal was one of them, that was so critically acclaimed yet when I watched it I was deeply disappointed which is another thing that I held against this film, very unjustly I know.

This story was slightly different though as it didn't focus on sex which is what I was expecting and it doesn't focus on anything else apart from the developing relationship between the young lesbian girl and the confused and emotionally scarred teacher. The way the relationship evolves has been very sensitively done, obviously this is a very sensitive and almost taboo subject to talk about so when it's depicted in a film or on TV it has to be done with due sensitivity. The director Katherine Brooks achieves this well. As this is set in an all girls boarding school, the relationship mainly fixated on the fact that the two people are student and teacher instead of the fact that they happen to both be girls. This is another thing that it has going for it because in some films and TV programmes they approach lesbianism and homosexuality like it's something no one has heard of when really it is something that is socially accepted these days therefore isn't a big deal. This film shows that by not making a big deal of it at all and I think all credit should go to it for that as they've done a really good job at dealing with a touchy subject both shrewdly and delicately.

The acting is very good throughout and for a film of this nature you would expect things to look forced and awkward but they don't, the two leads appear very relaxed around each other which gives the film an air of realism about it and makes us really believe in the relationship between the two women. I think the character of Simone was played beautifully, she, in my mind had the hardest part to play as she is the one in a position of power and responsibility and you feel her struggle between what's right and her feelings for Annabelle, this is something that comes across well on screen and I was actually very impressed with how realistic her portrayal was. Erin Kelly, playing Annabelle also did a good job but her character at times came across as way too full on and it made you wonder how this relationship could possibly be developing when at times Annabelle comes across as just a rebellious teen that simply wants to sleep with her teacher for some sort of gratification.

This film has so many things going for it but one thing that it does slip up on is it's pace, the film only lasts for approximately 76 minutes so you would expect it to move quite quickly and to be fair the first encounter between the two female leads does happen after only a matter of minutes however I did feel that the film moves very slowly. I don't know whether this was done purposely to keep the audience on tenterhooks and in a way it does work yet if this film wasn't quite so captivating and compelling I would have lost interest very quickly.

One more thing that I was disappointed in was the ending, for such a short film I was expecting the ending be dragged out as much as they possibly could in the time given yet a good 65 minutes is all focused on the build up to this inevitable and pivotal part of the film then the film is practically finished straight away. It's almost as though it had just managed to find it's feet and really get going only for it to be ended extremely abruptly. I do however think the ending was very right for this sort of film and although I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the story I think it was the only ending that this film could possibly pull off without being butchered by enraged members of the viewing public.

Overall I do think that this is an extremely compelling film with a good storyline that is handled very sensitively and with caution however it definitely isn't something that I would want to view again. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that I'm not gay, maybe lesbians would enjoy watching this film more than a heterosexual person would however I don't think that's the case because the fact that this is a lesbian movie almost becomes irrelevant very quickly. I think it's simply down to the fact that it was a very slow mover and when it finally got somewhere it was cut short. This is a powerful film and I would recommend giving it a watch but it's probably best to rent it.

The DVD is currently available from play.com for £9.99, considering this was released in 2006 it is an extremely extortionate price, this seems like one more reason that you should rent instead of buying.

Summary: A captivating drama.