The Story of Adele H (1975)

Adèle Hugo's unrequited love for a lieutenant.

Director:

François Truffaut

Writers:

François Truffaut (screenplay), Jean Gruault (screenplay)

Stars:

Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson, Sylvia Marriott

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Isabelle Adjani	...	Adèle Hugo
Bruce Robinson	...	Lt Albert Pinson
Sylvia Marriott	...	Mrs. Saunders
Joseph Blatchley	...	Mr. Whistler
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

Storyline

Halifax, 1863. A young woman, Miss Lewly, comes to Halifax to search for Lt Pinson, with whom she is madly in love. Actually, she is Adèle Hugo, the second daughter of the great French literary figure and statesman. The Lt Pinson does not answer to her love and makes her understand it is hopeless. But as her obsession grows she keeps chasing and harassing him. This film about passionate yet obsessive love and self-destruction is based upon the real diary of Adèle Hugo.

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Plot Keywords:

french | lieutenant | obsession | halifax nova scotia | frenchwoman | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

8 October 1975 (France)

Also Known As:

The Story of Adele H

Filming Locations:

Channel Islands

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Artistes Associés, Les Films du Carrosse, Les Productions Artistes Associés

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

Adèle Hugo: You are so handsome, Albert. You deserve to have all the women on Earth.

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Connections

Featured in La petite sirène (1980)

User Reviews

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".