The Innocents

The Innocents is a 2021 supernatural horror film written and directed by Eskil Vogt. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on 11 July 2021. Plot Lonely young girl Ida and her older sister Anna have moved into an apartment with their parents. Anna has nonverbal autism, with Ida having to take responsibility for her. One day Ida meets Ben and the two strike up a friendship. Ben shows Ida that he is able to move small, light-weight objects with telekinesis. Ida is asked to bring Anna to the playground and leaves her there to go off and play with Ben. They play soccer until a bully takes the ball. Ben picks up a cat he has seen in the woods and the two drop it from the top of the apartment complex's stairs. They find the cat alive but Ben kills it by crushing its skull with his foot. When Ida leaves to find Anna she is not on the tire swing where Ida left her. Ida discovers Anna playing with Aisha, another child from the apartment complex. Aisha demonstrates that she is able to communicate with Anna through telepathy. It is later revealed that Anna can move objects with telekenesis but Ida discovers that the powers are strongest when the three children are together - and that she is the only child of the group without supernatural powers. The children practice their powers and strengthen them and Anna begins to speak words verbally. While sending mental messages, Ben becomes angry at the message "Ben is a turd" and Aisha's subsequent laughter. He knocks Aisha over telekinetically and Anna intervenes. In the mental battle, Anna is injured by a piece of wood lodged in her leg. At home, Ben is scolded by his mother and knocks her out with a pan using his powers. She later wakes up and tells him to call for help. In a later scene her body remains in the kitchen, her face covered with a towel.