A young engineer is sent to post-WWII Berlin to help the Americans in spying on the Russians. In a time and place where discretion is still a man’s best friend, he falls in love with a mysterious woman who will take him on the dark side of evil.
John Schlesinger’s “The Innocent” rings hollow, un-erusing both its top-drawer talent and compelling Berlin locations.Having set the scene, both McEwan’s script and Schlesinger’s direction forge ahead to resolve the conflicts established in the first two reels. So intent is the film on its narrative purpose that it fails to build tension or suspense. The main characters develop no idiosyncrasies or even fleshed-out personalities that can later be debunked. When story threads are unexpectedly concluded, there’s no catharsis.
The Innocent is a 1993 drama film directed by John Schlesinger. The screenplay was written by Ian McEwan and based on his 1990 novel of the same name.The New York Times' film critic Caryn James felt that it "eventually overcomes its obstacles and almost lives up to its promising pedigree.... a tense and suspenseful love story with Hitchcockian overtones",[3] while Rita Kempley, in The Washington Post, called the movie "baffling... [T]he acting proves as inconsistent as Schlesinger's ability to build and release suspense."[5].
