The Story of Adele H

Starring:Isabelle Adjani, Joseph Blatchley, Louise Bourdet, Geoffroy Crook, Cecil De Sausmarez, Ruben Dorey, Chantal Durpoix, Raymond Falla, Clive Gillingham, Ivry Gitlis, Edward J. Jackson, Jean-Pierre Leursse, Madame Louise, Aurelia Mansion, Sylvia Marriott, Roger Martin, Bruce Robinson, M. White, Ralph Williams
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

François Truffaut's dramatization of the true story of Adele Hugo, the daughter of French author-in-exile Victor Hugo, and her romantic obsession with a young French officer is a cinematically beautiful and emotionally wrenching portrait of a headstrong but unstable young woman. Adele (Isabelle Adjani, whose pale face gives her the quality of a cameo portrait) travels under a false name and spins a half-dozen false stories about herself and her relationship to Lieutenant Pinson (Bruce Robinson), the Hussar she follows to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Pinson no longer loves her, but she refuses to accept his rejection. Sinking farther and farther into her own internal world, she passes herself off as his wife and pours out her stormy emotions into a personal journal filled with delusional descriptions of her fantasy life. Beautifully shot by Nestor Almendros in vivid color, Truffaut's re-creation of the 1860s is accomplished not merely in impressive sets and locations but in the very style of the film: narration and voiceovers, written journal entries and letters, journeys and locations established with map reproductions, and a judicious use of stills mix old-fashioned cinematic technique with poetic flourishes. The result is one of Truffaut's most haunting portraits, all the more powerful because it's true. --Sean Axmaker

Description

A profoundly beautiful movie (The New York Times), The Story of Adele H. is a haunting film based on a true story about desire, devotion...and madness. OscarÂ(r)-nominated* Isabelle Adjani stars in this lush portrait of a woman whose obsessive passion sets the stage for oneof the most romantic films of recent years (Saturday Review). Adele, daughter of French author and patriot Victor Hugo, is beautiful, composed and filled with the same brilliant writing talent as her famous father. However, Adele is driven not by literary aspirations but by love. Impelled by a need that will not be denied, she has run away from home to follow her handsome, womanizing lover (Bruce Robinson) across an ocean to wintry Halifax, Nova Scotia. Wild with desire, she'llrisk everything to renew their brief affair. And if she can't win him back, there'll be a terrible price to pay. *1975: Actress, The Story of Adele H.; 1989: Actress, Camille Claudel

Customer Reviews:

Adelle.......2007-03-20

She chases after a man who doesn't want her. Very French. She finally looses her mind at the end. Much angst. HARD TO WATCH. VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. True story.

This one will put you to sleep.......2007-03-16

This was a big disappointment. Not worth it!!!!!

Truffaut's "mad" composition.......2006-06-11

This film is based on the life of Adele Hugo, from her diary, part of which was discovered in a historical Library(Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City). Inspired and based on the book, "Le Jounal d'Adele Hugo," and a biography Truffaut read by Frances Vernor Guille.

I anticipated seeing a kind and gentle French film when first sitting down to view this--instead this beautiful creature appears on the screen (Adjani), and begins to bare her soul with the intensity of a fire breathing Dragon(as Truffaut said, her story is the autopsy of a passion). As the only surviving daughter of Victor Hugo(the famous author), Adele was sharing his exile in the Channel Islands during the reign of Louis Napoleon when she met the English Lieutenant Pinson, with whom she had a brief affair. When Pinson was transferred to Nova Scotia, she followed him. The film begins with her arrival in Halifax in 1863.

With that said, I think this film becomes a deep psychological drama. As this apparently rational, well educated, perceptive character, indulges herself with irrational behavior, in an attempt to obtain love from someone who does not want it; clearly it is her feelings towards him that matter to her, not him. This is a story of a women who is destroyed by a man who is indifferent to her. Yet throughout the film you don't condemn or pity her, she remains a heroine. As a representation of a kind of archetype, Adele's fixation transcends amorous feeling. The male version of this, which has been dealt with in a number of films (womanizer types), focuses on physical conquest, what could be had or taken. The female emphasis or version of this is on romanticised attainnment or loss. Truffaut has found a perfect metaphor in Adele for this neurosis, and unlike other films which carry this theme made later, such as "Fatal Attraction," he is not inclined to put this character in a strait-jacket or have her blown away. No moral judgement is made.

The stylized direction from Truffaut and cinematography shot by Nestor Almendros give this film a poetic quality. Dark on dark, with the sky rarely visible, and the characters clearly focused, the emphazises is on emotion.

Isabelle Adjani performance in this film, as noted by many, is first rate. A veteren actress by this time, having first appeared on the screen at age 14, she seems to intuitively know and understand the part of Adele. Truffaut should get the credit here for staying true to the story, and bringing her performance to light, while at the same time keeping the theme intact throughout. Truffaut stated, "The story of Adele H, which might be compared to a musical composition for a solo instrument, requires no preliminary explanations. Suffice it to say since I am obviously incapable of making films "against," I keep on filming "for."

Trivia:-Isabelle Adjani was only 19 when this film was made, much younger than the women she played.
-There are photographs seen in this film of Victor Hugo's actual funeral procession. When he died at age 83 he was buried like a divinity, with a procession of over 2 million mourners.
-Daughter Adele(Victor Hugo's wife Adele died in 1868) was not among them, she spent the last 40 odd years of her life in a asylum, writing in her journal in code. Pauline Kael wrote, "Victor Hugo is said to have had no equal as a poseur and a mythmaker, but, on Truffaut's evidence, his daughter, who lived to eighty-five(1830-1915), burning with faith to the end, may have surpassed him."

Why Love is Often a Form of Mania.......2006-04-03

Adele H possessed the same writing brilliance of her father Victor yet in combination with a deranged delusional love obssession, she sunk into a despair when following a French soilder to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Adjani is beautiful, haunted, tragic, and plays an Adele you can't help but pity. In the days before psychiatrists termed erotomania and police issued restraining orders, Adele Hugo was the epitomy of the damaged woman so desperate for a love that never existed. The saddest part is that Adele's story is based on her journals which chronicled her life until she was institutionalized in Paris. By then she was incoherent and spoke only in a language she understood. At the time of her death she was a relatively young woman who had lost all sense of self and reality.

Not only is "unrequited love a bore," it can drive one to madness.......2006-01-12

Based on the true story about the obsessive love of Adele Hugo (daughter of Victor Hugo and played beautifully by Isabelle Adjani) for a French soldier (Albert Pinson, played by Bruce Robinson). Adele and Pinson were once lovers and even contemplated marriage, but her family would not consent at first so Pinson leaves - and eventually falls out of love. He joins the army and goes to Halifax, but Adele follows him.

She tries everything to get him to love her again - in vain. She keeps a journal in which she fabricates a life for herself filled with success, where in reality there's only been failure. She slowly slips into madness. When Pinson is shipped to Barbados she even follows him there, living a beggars life in rags; she's totally insane now: she sees Pinson on the street one day and doesn't even recognize him anymore.

Truffaut's brilliance here is not just in the way he develops and explores the passions that motivate and come to obsess Adele, which is moving and intelligent, but also in the way he's able to never allow our sympathies to desert her even though her obsession becomes totally irrational. Adjani is radiant at times as her face reveals the pain of her broken heart. Another gem from Truffaut.

Average customer rating:

Adelle
This one will put you to sleep
Truffaut's "mad" composition
Why Love is Often a Form of Mania
Not only is "unrequited love a bore," it can drive one to madness

The Story of Adele H [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Bride Wore Black
The Man Who Loved Women
Small Change
My Mother's Castle
The Wild Child

ASIN: B00009XW8O

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Adelle.......2007-03-20

She chases after a man who doesn't want her. Very French. She finally looses her mind at the end. Much angst. HARD TO WATCH. VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. True story.

This one will put you to sleep.......2007-03-16

This was a big disappointment. Not worth it!!!!!

Truffaut's "mad" composition.......2006-06-11

Why Love is Often a Form of Mania.......2006-04-03

Not only is "unrequited love a bore," it can drive one to madness.......2006-01-12

Average customer rating:

Adelle
This one will put you to sleep
Truffaut's "mad" composition
Why Love is Often a Form of Mania
Not only is "unrequited love a bore," it can drive one to madness

The Story of Adele H [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Bride Wore Black
The Man Who Loved Women
Small Change
My Mother's Castle
The Wild Child

ASIN: B00008XO8Y

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Adelle.......2007-03-20

She chases after a man who doesn't want her. Very French. She finally looses her mind at the end. Much angst. HARD TO WATCH. VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. True story.

This one will put you to sleep.......2007-03-16

This was a big disappointment. Not worth it!!!!!

Truffaut's "mad" composition.......2006-06-11

Why Love is Often a Form of Mania.......2006-04-03

Not only is "unrequited love a bore," it can drive one to madness.......2006-01-12

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