Innocence

The six-year-old Iris is found inside a coffin in the dormitory's common area, then dressed in a uniform and introduced to the other girls who will be her housemates. They assign her a red ribbon and explain the social rules of the school.

Iris is given the red ribbon, marking her as the youngest; Bianca, the violet ribbon, begins guiding her as a protective elder. The others react with jealousy or curiosity.

Iris longs for her brother, but Bianca explains there are no boys allowed in the school. This harsh rule begins shaping Iris's understanding of the place.

The girls swim in the lake, and Iris forms an early friendship with Laura, the red ribbon of another house. This moment offers a glimmer of companionship within the strict environment.

That night Bianca leaves on a mysterious errand she cannot discuss. Iris, driven by curiosity, follows but loses track when she reaches the main building.

While exploring, Iris encounters a shadowy man preparing an injection for a shadowy woman. Fearing danger, she flees and becomes lost in the woods for the night.

After some time, Selma befriends Iris only to attack her, beating her with a switch and tasting her blood by touching her wound. The incident reveals the brutal undercurrents among the students.

Laura steals a rowboat to escape the school, but the boat leaks and the weather turns foul, leading to her drowning. Iris informs Bianca of the tragedy, and the school holds a funeral for Laura with her coffin burned on a pyre.

The focus shifts to Alice, the ten-year-old blue ribbon, who longs to leave, hoping to win the school's annual blue-ribbon inspection. The headmistress arrives to select one girl to depart with her, testing the class's resolve.

Alice is not selected to leave; she collapses, becomes mute, and eventually escapes into the surrounding woods, leading to rumors of gunshots and barking dogs as she disappears. Edith later tells Eva that Alice cannot be found and will not be seen again, implying the worst.

Sensing the coming change in the violet ribbons, Bianca takes Nadja on a nighttime trip to the main building behind a grandfather clock. There they put on butterfly costumes and perform for a mysterious unseen audience.

After a second show, a man in the audience calls Bianca beautiful and tosses her a rose; she keeps the rose and a theater glove as treasures before tossing both into the lake.

In the morning, Iris and the others spend time with Bianca as she bids farewell, passes her duties to Nadja, and boards a subway train with the other violet ribbons, leaving the school behind. Eva smokes a cigarette as they depart.

The train arrives at a grand plaza where Eva and Edith lead the girls away; Bianca and the remaining violet-ribbon girls play in the fountains, catching sight of a teenage boy who fascinates them. The scene hints at a life beyond the school.

The film ends with another shot of rushing water, echoing the opening sequence and suggesting cycles of longing and escape. The viewer is left with a sense of perpetual movement beyond the school.