Thérèse Desqueyroux is a French film first released in 1962, directed by Georges Franju.  The film is based on a novel by François Mauriac and stars Emmanuelle Riva, Philippe Noiret, Edith Scob, Sami Frey and Renée Devillers.  It has also been released under the title: Thérèse.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


Thérèse Desqueyroux tries to kill her husband, Bernard, by poisoning him, but the attempt fails.  To avoid a scandal that will ruin his name, Bernard gives false evidence which results in his wife’s acquittal.  When Thérèse is returning to her home in Argelouse, she brings to mind the events that led to her present predicament.  She recalls her happy adolescence with her friend, Anne, whose half-brother she ended up marrying.  It was not to be a happy marriage, though.  Bernard’s only preoccupations were his name and fortune, and these led him to break up Anne’s love affair with a Jewish man.  When Bernard began taking medicine containing arsenic, Thérèse saw an opportunity for her to escape from her miserable existence, by killing the man she has grown to despise...
© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium)

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