Loving Annabelle (2005)

Well-Done

A very well-done film about a very misunderstood subject. Full of romance, beauty, integrity and sensuality, this film takes you through a young teacher's struggle with the pain of the past and the younger woman who awakens in her the hidden depths of her suppressed longings.

The nexus of human emotions, love and spiritual longing have no relationship to the focal point of vulgarity that society often pivots on in their scope and interpretation about such matters between two people of the same sex. Unless you know and live it, you can't understand. But you may well try; in which case, this is a great film with which to start. July 15, 2008

Interesting characters, but only mildly steamy

To paraphrase the director in one of the DVD's special features interviews, the aim of "Loving Annabelle" was to tell a story about a teacher/student relationship that didn't automatically condemn every aspect of the relationship as irresponsible and horrible. You may find that to be a gutsy approach or a reprehensible one (we can talk about my own feelings over a beer if you want), but if you seek out this movie, I'm guessing that you're at least open to the idea of pretending such a relationship isn't all that bad so you can enjoy the sensual adult fare the film offers.

Alas, for those of you in such a category, I'm sad to report that there isn't very much sensual adult fare in "Loving Annabelle". There's only fleeting, rare nudity and fleeting, rare, and (sigh) discreetly-filmed sex. And that's strange, because one of the director's other motivations for making the movie was (I'm paraphrasing her again) "...to show some really hot stuff, the kind of stuff that turns me on, the kind of stuff I really like to do and have done to me when I'm in a hot relationship." I guess the director really enjoys endless worrying and endless discussions about what's right and wrong about her life.

To be fair, the story is watchable and not entirely uninteresting, just not very shocking and, to get serious for a moment, not very thematically ambitious (see, I'm not just interested in sex). In other words, typical traditional moralism, that firmly reinforces the social status quo, is very much in place at the end.

So, throughout the film, you don't get much that's all that compelling story-wise, and you don't get much erotically-charged material, either. And sometimes what erotic content you do get almost seems to be there accidentally. For example, all the scenes of the girls in their Catholic school uniforms smack of fetishism instead of an honest attempt to show what such schools are really like. But I guess viewers have to take what stimulating elements they can get here.

I will say this: we learn from the extra features that the movie was filmed on a shoestring budget and took forever to finish due to money issues; it's to its credit, then, that the movie looks as good as it does.

In the end, "Loving Annabelle" is well acted and works fine as a sort of R-rated (and a soft "R", at that) "Lifetime" movie. Just don't let the pretty women on the DVD cover and the film's subject matter get your hopes up about getting much beyond a marginal time passer. July 2, 2008

A Big Fan

This movie was awesome! I would recommend it to anyone straight or not, it has a great story line, and great acting to boot! Erin Kelly is exceptional and memorizing. Diane Gaidry is such a talented actress,and I hope to see her in more movies to come. WATCH IT, you will not regret it! June 28, 2008

Please.

Solid performances, but the teacher character was too unappealing to care about. A repressed lesbian who chooses to teach in a girls' boarding school of all places? And what a surprise that her repression leads to the incredibly poor judgement to jump one of the students! Hey, I guess if you're so unhappy you want to throw your life away, why go out in a blaze by screwing a senator's kid and making the network news across the country! That way, the humiliation and ruined career will give you a passive-agressive excuse to suicide and reunite with your one true love (ok, wacky speculation mine). The Annabelle character was well-written though, and Erin Kelly did a really fine job. Actually, all the actors did well, but that teacher character was just awful. June 27, 2008

A must-see!!

This is one of the best films of its genre! It is sure to stir emotion in the coolest customer. I'm sure this film will go down as the next generation "Desert Hearts". If you enjoyed that movie, you will definetly enjoy this one! I didn't want this movie to end. The music was fantastic and the alternate ending was perfect! Kudos!!! June 16, 2008

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