L’Histoire d'Adèle H.
1975 History Drama   

 

Credits
  • Director: François Truffaut
  • Script: François Truffaut, Jean Gruault, Suzanne Schiffman, based on "Le Journal d’Adèle Hugo"by Frances V. Guille
  • Photo: Nestor Almendros
  • Music: Maurice Jaubert
  • Cast: Isabelle Adjani (Adèle Hugo), Bruce Robinson (Lieutenant Pinson), Sylvia Marriott (Mrs Saunders), Reubin Dorey (Mr Sanders), Joseph Blatchley (le libraire Whistler)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 96 min
  • Aka: The Story of Adele H.

 
Summary
Adèle Hugo, the second daughter of the celebrated French writer Victor Hugo, arrives in Nova Scotia in 1863.  Living under an assumed name, she tracks down her former lover, an attractive young army officer, Lieutenant Pinson.  Although Pinson insists that their affair is over and spurns her advances, Adèle clings to her love.  Her passion turns into an intense self-destructive obsession...

Review
Based on the diaries of Adèle Hugo, the film traces the course of an impossible obsessive love with compassion but without sentimentality.  François Truffaut tackled this theme expertly in a number of his other films (most famously in his 1961 film Jules and Jim).  But L’Histoire d’Adèle H. represents probably his most haunting and devastating treatment of the subject.  The fact that the film depicts a real life story, not fiction, lends it even greater poignancy.

This film was one of Truffaut’s most ambitious projects, being made in two versions, French and English.  It won critical acclaim for the director and Isabelle Adjani was nominated for an Oscar for her impressive performance.   Despite this, the film fared very poorly at the box office in France, creating major financial problems for Truffaut’s film production company.  Fortunately, it was more successful abroad.

© James Travers 2000



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