Loving Annabelle

Loving Annabelle is a 2006 American romantic drama film written and directed by Katherine Brooks. Inspired by the 1931 German film Mädchen in Uniform, it tells the story of a boarding school student who falls in love with her teacher.

Plot
Annabelle Tillman, the worldly and emotionally mature 17-year-old daughter of a senator, is sent to Saint Theresa's, an all-girls Catholic boarding school after being expelled from two previous schools. Simone Bradley, a poetry teacher at the school, is in charge of her dormitory. Annabelle shares the dormitory with an amiable classmate, Kristen. She also shares her room with Catherine, who tends to bully people, and Colins, a student with a nervous disposition.

Simone is a dependable and respectable teacher who occasionally bends the rules out of concern for her students. Her personal life is synonymous with abiding by the conventions of society and her religion. Annabelle is her antiagent, with unrestrained behavior, unconventional choices and outright defiance of authority.

Annabelle receives a stern rebuke from the principal, Mother Immaculata, for audaciously flaunting her Buddhist prayer beads. Simone is given the responsibility of controlling her. At first, Simone requests that the principal move Annabelle to another dormitory but soon notices her maturity and sensitivity and convinces her to comply with the school regulations. In the process Annabelle falls in love with Simone.

Simone ignores Annabelle's delicate overtures until they are left alone at the school during spring break. Simone takes Annabelle on a day trip to her beach house, where Annabelle discovers painful details about Simone's past. Annabelle holds Simone tightly in her arms as Simone breaks down and a deep emotional connection is established between them.

Simone struggles within herself to resist Annabelle, but is eventually moved by her relentless pursuit. At the annual school dance, Annabelle goes up on stage with her guitar and sings a song she wrote for Simone. Simone runs outside, but Annabelle catches up with her. They kiss, then go to Simone's room and have sex.

The next morning, when Colins wonders were Annabelle was because she did not spend the night in her room, Catherine suspects what happened and out of spite tells Mother Immaculata to check on Annabelle and Simone. The clock alarm had not gone off and as they rush to get dressed, Mother Immaculata walks in on them and orders Simone to come to her office immediately. Upon being questioned if she had thought about the consequences beforehand, Simone admits that she loves Annabelle. Police detectives arrest Simone (for statutory rape or a similar crime) and just as she is leaving, Annabelle places her most prized possession — the Buddhist prayer beads — in Simone's hand.

Inside Simone's room, Annabelle tearfully looks at the photographs taken by her at the beach house as Simone, gazing serenely out the car window, is driven away. The film ends quoting Rainer Maria Rilke: "For one human being to love another that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks...the work for which all other work is but preparation."

Cast

 * Erin Kelly as Annabelle Tillman, an openly lesbian young woman in love with her teacher, Simone Bradley
 * Diane Gaidry as Simone Bradley, a closeted lesbian teacher who falls in love with her student, Annabelle
 * Laura Breckenridge as Colins, a troubled girl who becomes Annabelle's friend
 * Michelle Horn as Kristen, Catherine's best friend
 * Gustine Fudickar as Catherine ("Cat"), a student who bullies her fellow pupils, especially Colins
 * Ilene Graff as Mother Immaculata, Simone's aunt and school principal
 * Markus Flanagan as Michael, Simone's ex-boyfriend
 * Kevin McCarthy as Father Harris, the school priest

Production
At the time of writing the script, writer and director Katherine Brooks said news stories of scandalous teacher-student relationships saturating the media influenced the story. Brooks wanted to depict such a relationship in her film, albeit between two women. Brooks believed the main characters being female rendered the dynamics of their relationship more socially acceptable than if either of the characters were male, stating, "I think that most would see a woman and girl connect in more of an 'emotional' way, a mother-figure type of relationship like in Maedchen [sic] in Uniform".

The film spent eight years in the development process. Diane Gaidry was not cast until three days before the start of filming.

The school scenes were filmed at Marymount High School in Los Angeles, California.

Reception
Writing for The Spinning Image, Andrew Pragasam praised Brooks for "[steering] the subject away from male fantasy and [placing] the emphasis where it needs to be, on love. Some have criticised the seemingly squeaky clean, almost antiseptic tone to what is meant to be a torrid romance, but the film succeeds by being more emotionally than sexually provocative and intertwines too potentially transgressive ideas".

Nancy Amazon of Kissing Fingertips felt "a few more risks should have been taken, with the script and the direction...More should have been made of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the boarding school setting, to really make us feel how trapped Simone feels, how she's unable to breathe until Annabelle comes along to throw open a few windows." Critic Christopher Null bemoaned the film's third act, writing "Loving Annabelle gets interesting at the very moment the credits roll, and that's a shame, because it's otherwise a lush-looking film that has an extremely timely news hook to it."

Some critics pointed out the power dynamics of the relationship and reasoned that despite Annabelle and Simone both being women, the nature of their relationship is still inappropriate. Karman Kregloe of AfterEllen commented that while the film "sets up a complex moral quagmire", "Brooks doesn’t attempt to answer these questions for the viewer. She presents the material without sensationalism, and it’s up to us to pass judgment." She lauded the film for managing to avoid the "lesbian tragedy" trope and concluded the movie's "cinematography, strong acting and erotic charge will satisfy regardless of whether you think the lovers deserve ruination or redemption."

In 2020, Valerie Anne of Autostraddle acknowledged the importance of lesbian representation on screen while also noting the inherent power imbalance in the central relationship, mentioning the film does not skirt the negative consequences of such a relationship.

Alternate ending
The DVD contains an alternate ending in which Annabelle is driving on a coast highway to an unknown destination. She stops at a road-side store and picks up a copy of a newspaper with the front page headline “No Charges To Be Filed In Teacher Student Sex Scandal”, and smiles. Annabelle is then seen with her car parked on the side of the road, and she rushes down the steps leading to Simone's beach house.

Home media
The DVD for Region 1 was released by Wolfe Video on December 12, 2006. The Region 2 DVD was released by TLA Releasing on January 14, 2008.

Accolades
Atlanta Film Festival
 * 2006 Audience Award (Katherine Brooks)

Fort Worth Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival
 * 2006 Q Award- Narrative Feature (Katherine Brooks)

L.A. Outfest
 * 2006 Audience Award (Katherine Brooks)
 * 2006 Grand Jury Award - Best Actress (Diane Gaidry)

Long Island Film Festival
 * 2006 Audience Choice Award - Narrative Feature (Katherine Brooks)

Paris Cinema Festival
 * 2006 Jury Award (Katherine Brooks)