Summary
Adèle Hugo, the second daughter of the celebrated French writer Victor Hugo, arrives
in Nova Scotia in 1863. Living under an assumed name, she tracks down her former
lover, an attractive young army officer, Lieutenant Pinson. Although Pinson insists
that their affair is over and spurns her advances, Adèle clings to her love.
Her passion turns into an intense self-destructive obsession...
Review
Based on the diaries of Adèle Hugo, the film traces the course of an impossible
obsessive love with compassion but without sentimentality. François Truffaut
tackled this theme expertly in a number of his other films (most famously in his 1961
film Jules and Jim). But L’Histoire d'Adèle H. represents probably
his most haunting and devastating treatment of the subject. The fact that the film
depicts a real life story, not fiction, lends it even greater poignancy.
This film was one of Truffaut’s most ambitious projects, being made in two versions, French
and English. It won critical acclaim for the director and Isabelle Adjani was nominated
for an Oscar for her impressive performance. Despite this, the film fared
very poorly at the box office in France, creating major financial problems for Truffaut’s
film production company. Fortunately, it was more successful abroad.
© James Travers 2000
See also:
The life of François Truffaut
Les 400 coups
Tirez sur le pianiste
Jules et Jim
Farenheit 451
Baisers volés
Le Dernier métro
Buy films by François Truffaut
More about the French New Wave
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