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The Story of Adele H.
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by MGM (Video & DVD)
Sales Rank: 28503
Price: $19.98
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François Truffaut's dramatization of the true story of Adele Hugo, the daughter of French author-in-exile Victor Hugo, and her romantic obsession with a young French officer is a cinematically beautiful and emotionally wrenching portrait of a headstrong but unstable young woman. Adele (Isabelle Adjani, whose pale face gives her the quality of a cameo portrait) travels under a false name and spins a half-dozen false stories about herself and her relationship to Lieutenant Pinson (Bruce Robinson), the Hussar she follows to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Pinson no longer loves her, but she refuses to accept his rejection. Sinking farther and farther into her own internal world, she passes herself off as his wife and pours out her stormy emotions into a personal journal filled with delusional descriptions of her fantasy life. Beautifully shot by Nestor Almendros in vivid color, Truffaut's re-creation of the 1860s is accomplished not merely in impressive sets and locations but in the very style of the film: narration and voiceovers, written journal entries and letters, journeys and locations established with map reproductions, and a judicious use of stills mix old-fashioned cinematic technique with poetic flourishes. The result is one of Truffaut's most haunting portraits, all the more powerful because it's true. <I>--Sean Axmaker</I>
Viewer Reviews
Adèle H, the daughter of French writer Victor Hugo, wrote in her journals that she would walk across the ocean to be with the lover who rejected her. François Truffaut's Story of Adele H chronicles that journey.
One of the founders of the French New Wave film genre, Truffaut is best known for The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim and the Adventures of Antoine Doinel (The 400 Blows / Antoine & Collette / Stolen Kisses / Bed & Board / Love on the Run). In 1975, he gained notoriety with The Story of Adele H (L'Histoire d'Adèle H.), starring Isabelle Adjani (Camille Claudel, Possession) in the title role. Set in the 1860s and anchored in the actual diaries and letters of Adèle Hugo, the emotionally powerful film chronicles her obsessive, unrequited love for a womanizing British naval officer, Lieutenant Pinson (Bruce Robinson), a doomed love which ultimately leads to her into madness. When it comes to love for Pinson, Adèle is the female counterpart of Don Quixote. The film follows Adèle as she trails Pinson through the streets of Halifax, through the woods, and even as she spies on him in the arms of his sexual conquests. At night Adèle dreams she is drowning. Adjani's performance carries the beautifully-shot film, a performance which earned her an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actress. (She should have won, in my opinion.) Truffaut makes a cameo appearance in the film as the soldier Adèle mistakes for Pinson. This is one of Truffaut's best films, shot in somber tones of black, blue, and brown, appropriate for a love story devoid of any happiness. Highly recommended.
G. Merritt
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