Loving Annabelle (2006)

In a space between what's wrong and right..

This lesbian themed movie is based on the in 1931 produced German movie Mädchen in Uniform. Loving Annabelle is produced, directed and written by Katherine Brooks in 2006. She spent more than four years on this project.

The movie is about the young senator’s daughter, Annabelle Tillman (played by Erin Kelly). She is send off to a Catholic boarding school after causing trouble and being expelled. Annabelle is placed in a dorm leaded by Simone Bradley (Diane Gaidry) and shares it with three other girls; Christen, Katherine and Colins. Simone is a poetry teacher at the school. Also on this school Annabelle starts causing trouble. The school has a strict dress code and Annabelle has a nose ring and wears Buddhist prayer beads, she also enjoys the occasional cigarette. Mother Immaculata gives Simone the job to control Annabelle. Simone says she can’t control her and suggests that she should be put in another dorm. Mother Immaculata refuses and Simone tries to control Annabelle. Simone asks why she is making it so hard for her not to listen to the school’s policy. Annabelle responds that she got the beads from the first person she fall in love with and explains that she moved to Europe with her family a year ago.  

The tension between Annabelle and Simone is growing. Annabelle tries to win Simone over but Simone keeps refusing, until spring break and all the students went home accept Annabelle. Simone drives Annabelle to her beach house that her parents gave her after graduating. Looking through some photos of Simone and her past away best friend, Amanda, she finds out painful details about Simone past with Amanda. Simone notices that Annabelle found the farewell letter and read it and she collapses. Annabelle holds her tightly in her arms as Simone is breaking down. The next morning they drive back to school and don’t speak to each other for over two weeks. At the school dance when Annabelle is preforming the song she wrote, confessing her love for Simone she finally wins Simone over and they’re ending up kissing outside the school. Eventually they spend the night in Simone’s room.

The next morning they miss breakfast and Katherine suggests that Annabelle is in Simone’s room. Mother Immaculata goes up to check on Simone and catches the two getting dressed. Mother Immaculata wants to speak with Simone right away. Simone tells Mother Immaculata that she doesn’t expect understanding and that she loves Annabelle. Simone is getting arrested and Annabelle runs after her with her most valuable possession, the Buddhist prayer beads and gives them to Simone. Annabelle ends up looking to the pictures Simone took at the beach house. The fade-off leads to the quote: “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.”

The DVD was released with an alternate ending. Simone is acquitted and Annabelle is driving off to Simone’s beach house. 

This movie is not a typical love story with a happy ending. This movie is a movie about the thin line between right and wrong. At first I was bumped that they didn’t live happily ever after, but after watching the movie one more time I realized that it’s not a fairytale and those kinds of things never happen in real life. This story is realistic, because the student teacher thing happens more than we realize and Katherine Brooks has shown the consequences perfectly. Katherine about the movie: “The only reason I made this movie was to shoot a proper lesbian sex scene!” But I think, she did a whole lot more than that!

Trailer:

Loving Annabelle (2006) - IMDb