The Innocents 2016

In war-scarred Warsaw, December 1945, a young French medical student and army doctor, Mathilde Beaulieu, arrives at a convent at night to tend to sick women who seem to be slipping through the cracks of formal aid. Beaulieu is not satisfied with a routine referral to the Polish Red Cross and instead insists on personally assessing the women, a decision that pulls her into a tense, fragile world where faith, secrecy, and survival intersect.

At the heart of the convent is the Mother Superior (Abbess), who explains that the nun at the center of the crisis was taken in out of charity after being cast out by her family. Beaulieu learns that the nun’s suffering is part of a larger, hidden trauma plaguing the community, and she reveals that she works for the French Red Cross only to be met with wary, protective silence from the nuns.

A grieving novice nun sits in isolation, praying as she copes with the weight of what has happened. Through whispers and half-spoken fear, the abbey’s atmosphere grows heavier as the Mother Superior discloses a chilling truth: several nuns were raped by Soviet soldiers, and seven of them are pregnant. The nuns are torn between the sacred vow they’ve chosen and the brutal reality that threatens to overwhelm their faith. Some fear intimate examinations, while others confess that their faith has been deeply shaken by the events—and that a heavy cross of doubt and pain weighs on them all.

Beaulieu discovers that the threat of violence looms again when soldiers arrive, suspecting the convent of hiding an enemy soldier. She manages to redirect their focus to an emergency typhus outbreak, a calculated move that buys time and demonstrates her calm under pressure. The Mother Superior, already shaken, expresses gratitude for Beaulieu’s steadiness, and Beaulieu herself grapples with the absolute horror of recognizing that she, too, was raped.

Back at headquarters, Beaulieu’s superiors question her absence, emphasizing that the military is a place of order and discipline. The tension between duty and compassion remains unresolved, but Beaulieu presses on because lives—nuns and newborns—are at stake.

During a later visit, Beaulieu witnesses another novice give birth unexpectedly. This nun hadn’t realized she was pregnant, and the abbess had ordered immediate notification of all births. Beaulieu urges discretion to allow medical care to focus on the infant. Sister Zofia steps in to care for the newborn, reflecting the growing practical sense among some nuns to shield the children from the scrutiny that could follow.

Beaulieu asks the Mistress of Novices if she ever longs for a different life, and the novice responds with a stark, poetic line: “Faith is 24 hours of doubt with one minute of hope,” illustrating the internal struggle that defines so many who live within the convent walls. The doctor returns to the army base, only to find that the unit is set to be transferred from the area, adding a sense of impermanence to their already fragile lives.

As births occur in quick succession, Beaulieu brings a male Jewish colleague to help keep the nuns’ secret safe. They visit the babies who have been kept hidden from the abbess. The Mistress of Novices plans to place one child with Zofia’s family, but when the infant is discovered by the abbess, she is furious and accuses the Mistress of Novices of inviting scandal. The Mistress of Novices counters with the painful truth that scandal and disorder were already present before the French doctor arrived.

The Mother Superior has claimed she takes the babies to families who will adopt them, but her methods bend toward concealment and control. Her actions culminate in a dramatic act: she leaves a baby to die or be found on a country walking path, baptizes it, and abandons it beneath a crucifix. Zofia, who has cared for the child and faced the threat of exposure, is distraught and ultimately commits suicide after her secret is endangered and she cannot bear the weight of the truth.

When the Mistress of Novices seeks out Zofia’s family, she learns that the aunt never knew about Zofia’s child or the baby she had been caring for. Deciding not to reveal the whole truth, the Mistress of Novices is forced to confront the possibility that the abbess has misled everyone in the name of preserving the convent’s reputation. This realization marks a turning point as she begins to see Providence as something more than a convenient excuse for secrecy.

Back at the medical base, Beaulieu contemplates departure as the unit prepares to move on. Yet the need for protection of the vulnerable remains urgent. The Mistress of Novices brings three babies to the base to shield them from the abbess’s reach, and Beaulieu notes how many orphans on the streets already contribute to the work around the base, hinting at a quiet, practical resilience in a world scarred by war. The doctors and nuns contemplate a future in which many of these children could be raised within the convent as part of an orphanage, providing a stable life while steering clear of public scrutiny.

Courage and resolve define the choices of the women who stay. One nun decides to leave the convent to raise her own child, while another agrees to have her baby raised by the nuns, preserving what they can of their community’s sense of purpose.

The story closes three months later with a hopeful image: a photographer at the convent captures the nuns alongside thriving orphans, suggesting that even in the wake of tragedy, resilience, care, and a rebirth of trust can take root. The final frame holds a quiet belief that human kindness, rather than secretive suffocation of truth, may chart a path toward healing after the horrors of war.