Histoires extraordinaires (TV Series) La chute de la maison Usher (1981) User Reviews

The Fall Of The House Of Usher {TV} (Alexandre Astruc, 1981) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 19 October 2013]

Edgar Allan Poe's melancholy tale of doomed siblings is among his most popular, so it is small wonder that the cinema keeps returning to this one (among a handful of other choice stories). Interestingly, the premise lends itself to both straightforward (the best-regarded attempt being Roger Corman's heavily-coloured 1960 adaptation) and experimental (notably Jean Epstein's 1928 Silent version) treatment. The film under review (for which I did not have the benefit of English subtitles!), then, could easily fit into either category: for the record, director Astruc had already faithfully but artily tackled Poe's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM in 1964 (also for French TV). Incidentally, I was surprised to learn that, here, Mathieu Carriere essayed the central role of Roderick – rather than the more recognizably brooding Pierre Clementi, relegated to the part of bewildered friend of the family recounting events in flashback! Still, there is a catch to that incongruous bit of casting (actually, top-billed Fanny Ardant has the least screen-time of all as the ailing, and subsequently cataleptic, Madeleine)…for the phantasmagorical – as opposed to the expected spectacular – denouement of this particular rendition shifts the original's focus from the titular household somewhat (but without necessarily subverting its meaning)! By the way, the film was made as part of a series entitled HISTOIRES EXTRAORDINAIRES, also the original French title of the renowned 1968 compendium SPIRITS OF THE DEAD!; besides, I have just learned of (and acquired) a quartet of Italian TV episodes dedicated to the famously tortured author and, predictably, this very source