L'histoire d'Adèle H. (1975)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

François Truffaut

Writers:

Jan Dawson (English adaptation)
Jean Gruault (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

8 October 1975 (France)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

Halifax, 1863. A young woman, miss Lewly, comes to Halifax to search for Lt Pinson, whom she is madly in love with...

Plot Keywords:

Obsessive Love | Obsession | Insanity | Bookstore | Halifax Canada

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 9 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Isabelle Adjani	...	Adèle Hugo / Adèle Lewry
Bruce Robinson	...	Lt Albert Pinson
Sylvia Marriott	...	Mrs. Saunders
Joseph Blatchley	...	The Bookseller
Ivry Gitlis	...	Hypnotist
Louise Bourdet	...	Victor Hugo's servant
Cecil De Sausmarez	...	Mr. Lenoir
Ruben Dorey	...	Mr. Saunders
Clive Gillingham	...	Keaton
Roger Martin	...	Doctor Murdock
M. White	...	Colonel White (as Mr White)
Madame Louise	...	Madame Baa
Jean-Pierre Leursse	...	Black penpusher
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Geoffroy Crook	...	George, servant at Johnstone's (uncredited)
Chantal Durpoix	...	Young whore (uncredited)
Raymond Falla	...	Judge Johnstone (uncredited)
David Foote	...	David, a young boy (uncredited)
Jacques Frejabue	...	Cabinetmaker (uncredited)
Carl Hathwell	...	Lt. Pinson's Batman (uncredited)
Edward J. Jackson	...	O'Brien (uncredited)
Aurelia Mansion	...	Widow with dog (uncredited)
Thi-Loan Nguyen	...	Madmoiselle Tilly, assistant of hypnotist (uncredited)
François Truffaut	...	Officer (uncredited)
Ralph Williams	...	Canadian (uncredited)

Directed by
François Truffaut

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jan Dawson		English adaptation
Jean Gruault		writer
Frances Vernor Guille		story (as Frances V. Guille)
Adèle Hugo		diary
Suzanne Schiffman		writer
François Truffaut		writer

Produced by
Marcel Berbert	....	producer
Claude Miller	....	producer
François Truffaut	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Maurice Jaubert

Cinematography by
Néstor Almendros		(as Nestor Almendros)

Film Editing by
Martine Barraqué		(as Martine Barraque)
Yann Dedet
Jean Gargonne
Michèle Neny		(as Michele Neny)
Muriel Zeleny

Production Design by
Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko		(as Jean-Pierre Kohut)

Costume Design by
Jacqueline Guyot

Makeup Department
Chantal Durpoix	....	hair stylist
Thi-Loan Nguyen	....	makeup artist (as Thi Loan N'Guyen)

Production Management
Patrick Millet	....	production manager
Roland Thénot	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Carl Hathwell	....	second assistant director
Suzanne Schiffman	....	assistant director

Art Department
Daniel Braunschweig	....	property master

Sound Department
Michel Laurent	....	sound
Jacques Maumont	....	sound mixer
Jean-Pierre Ruh	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Florent Bazin	....	assistant camera
Charlie Freess	....	key grip (as Charles Freess)
Jean-Claude Gasché	....	chief electrician (as Jean-Claude Gasche)
Dominique Le Rigoleur	....	assistant camera
Jean-Claude Rivière	....	assistant camera (as Jean-Claude Riviere)

Music Department
Patrice Mestral	....	conductor
François Porcile	....	musical consultant

Other crew
Jacques Noureddine	....	saxophone solo
Christine Pellé	....	script supervisor (as Christine Pelle)
Georges Aminel	....	voice (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Les Films du Carrosse
• Les Productions Artistes Associés

Distributors

• Hemdale Film Distribution
• MGM Home Entertainment (2003) (Germany) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (video)
• MK2 Diffusion (2000) (France) (re-release)
• New World Pictures (USA) (subtitled)
• Southbrook International Films (1977) (UK) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1975) (France) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Air France  special thanks

Also Known As:

The Story of Adele H (USA)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) (1991) | Australia:PG | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | UK:12 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Barbados

Company:

Les Films du Carrosse

Trivia:

Gitlis (as the hypnotist) dismisses his Chinese assistant so he can discuss in private with Adele. He allegedly talks to her in Chinese, but actually tells her in Hebrew to get lost.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The hypnotist has a plant in the audience pretending to be a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was not set up until a decade after the story's setting of 1863

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 48th Annual Academy Awards (1976) (TV)

Truly Extraordinary

Thirty years later it is hard to imagine "The Story of Adele H" without the then twenty-year old Isabelle Adjani as the title character. But at the time Truffaut's decision to cast the young French theatre star was very risky. Not because there was any doubt about Adjani's acting, but because casting someone who was arguably the most beautiful actress in the world as a character driven mad by unrequited love raised a potential credibility issue. Would viewers believe that the advances of a woman so beautiful, passionate, and intelligent were rejected? And could someone like that elicit sympathy from the average viewer.

But Truffaut knew what he was doing because Adjani's Adele Hugo is 100% convincing. And rather than going for audience sympathy they go for audience frustration as the viewer is increasingly exasperated over Adele's self-destructive behavior. Adjani's breathtaking beauty actually is an asset as Truffaut wants us convinced that the world holds open unlimited possibilities for Adele if only see can let go of her obsession. Adjani plays the character with such intensity that you are finally relieved when Adele's madness has reached the stage where she is no longer aware of her own suffering.

Apparently Adele Hugo (Victor Hugo's daughter) had other issues going on well before her obsessive quest for Lt. Pinson's love began. Her sister had drowned and her parents had always strongly favored the sister over Adele. She has recurrent nightmares about drowning and sees marriage to Pinson as the only way to escape from her father. Visually, Truffaut's stays with blacks, browns and blues; with much of each frame filled with shadows; not exactly dreary but consistent with a character who has found little non-fantasy happiness during her life.

The camera loves Adjani, a good thing as she is on screen for over 90% of the film. She was the youngest nominee ever for best actress. It was the best performance of the 1970's, probably no one but Adjani could have conveyed such inner emotional violence. It is that extremely rare visual performance that does not need subtitles or even sound.

As Roger Ebert noted: "Truffaut finds a certain nobility in Adele. He quotes one of the passages in her diaries twice: She writes that she will walk across the ocean to be with her lover. He sees this, not as a declaration of love, but as a statement of a single-mindedness so total that a kind of grandeur creeps into it. Adele was mad, yes, probably - but she lived her life on such a vast and romantic scale that it's just as well Pinson never married her. He would have become a disappointment".