The debilitating effects of a romantic obsession are captured in haunting, edifying detail in Francois Truffaut’s The Story of Adèle H., his 1975 biographical look at the daughter of Victor Hugo and her plunge into maniacal despair during a critical one year period in her life. The film has its own restrained pacing, and those who loved some of his more manic earlier movies may not find this one much to their liking, but there’s a meticulousness here that reaps big rewards if the viewer is willing to stay with this devastatingly sad true story.
Studio: MGM
Distributed By: Twilight Time
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: English 1.0 DTS-HDMA (Mono)
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Rating: PG
Run Time: 1 Hr. 38 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
clear keep caseDisc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: All
Release Date: 04/14/2015
MSRP: $29.95
The Production Rating: 4/5
Francois Truffaut, Jean Gruault, and Suzanne Schiffman have fashioned their screenplay from the memoirs of Adèle Hugo, and it’s all of a piece as the troubled young woman, who concocts a series of outrageous stories about her identity and her reasons for her inquiries (her imagination proves she’s a chip off of the old block for sure) makes many attempts to change her lieutenant’s mind, all for naught. (The most preposterous and delightful: a lengthy sequence at a theater where a performing hypnotist played by Ivry Gitlis gives her the idea perhaps Albert could be mesmerized into doing her bidding). And Truffaut doesn’t bother to make the object of her desire something to be cherished; though unaccountably handsome, he’s cold, impassive, impersonal, and his indiscreet womanizing isn’t disregarded: indeed, at one point Adèle watches with both rapt attention and some pleasure through a succession of windows as he carries one lady off to the bed chamber and has his way with her. Truffaut also focuses a bit on the kindly people who surround Adèle: despite her slowly impending madness, she has a group of guardian angels looking out for her: her landlady (Sylvia Marriott), a bookseller (Joseph Blatchley), a bank clerk (Cecil De Sausmarez), a cabbie (Clive Gillingham). But the lady's descent into madness is harrowing to witness as her obsession becomes her reason for living even to the point that she doesn’t even recognize her beloved in the street; she just wanders around aimlessly because that’s what she does each day.
Isabelle Adjani won a great many prizes for her work as Adèle Hugo including Best Actress from the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics, all of them deeply deserved. She makes the woman’s slow sinking into incontinence completely believable and heartbreaking and emerges as one of the most vivid performances ever in a film directed by Francois Truffaut. Bruce Robinson’s sphinxlike mask as the stalking victim of Ms. Hugo’s obsession works very well since the focus is always to be on her. Viewers might become somewhat frustrated that his feelings about the situation aren’t delved into with more depth, but that’s clearly intentional on Truffaut’s part (the film is called The Story of Adèle H. after all). The lady’s guardian angels are wonderfully played by Sylvia Marriott, Cecil De Sausmarez, Clive Gillingham, and especially Joseph Blatchley (who one suspects carries something of a torch for the lady). Ivry Gitlis also excels during that wonderful hypnotist sequence.
Video Rating: 4.5/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 4.5/5
Special Features Rating: 3/5
Isolated Score Track: presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono.
Theatrical Trailer (2:50, HD)
MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (2:06, HD)
Six-Page Booklet: contains a selection of moody stills, original poster art on the rear cover, and film historian Julie Kirgo’s informative essay on the movie.
Overall Rating: 4/5
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
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