''Thérèse Desqueyroux'' is a 1962 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Georges Franju, based on the 1927 novel of the same name by

François Mauriac François Charles Mauriac (; ; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of the'' Académie française'' (from 1933), and laureate of the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Pr ...

. Written by Franju, François Mauriac and Claude Mauriac, it stars Emmanuelle Riva and

Philippe Noiret Philippe Noiret (; 1 October 1930 – 23 November 2006) was a French film actor. Life and career Noiret was born in Lille, France, the son of Lucy (Heirman) and Pierre Noiret, a clothing company representative. He was an indifferent student a ...

Plot

Thérèse Desqueyroux lives in a mansion in Argelouse in the Landes, a region in Southwestern France, unhappily married to Bernard, a dull and pompous landowner whose only interest is preserving his family name and property. Her only comforts are her fondness for the surrounding pine forests and her friendship with Bernard's half-sister Anne. When Anne falls in love with Jean Azevedo, a young man from the neighbourhood, her parents ask Thérèse to intervene, as he is not acceptable as a future son-in-law because of his Jewish ancestry. As a result, Anne distances herself from Thérèse. The birth of her daughter increases Thérèse's alienation. Her mind turns to the medication on which Bernard is dependent. By secretly increasing the dosage she precipitates a crisis, but it does not prove fatal. After enquiries reveal that she had been forging prescriptions, she is arrested. Desperate to save the family reputation, her influential father applies pressure and Bernard perjures himself. Acquitted, she undertakes the lonely journey back to Bernard's estate. Bernard has her locked in a room where she is looked after by the housekeepers while he is away on business travels. Allowed only cigarettes and wine but no books, Thérèse slowly fades away. When freed to attend a family gathering and meet Anne's new husband, people are dismayed at her sickly appearance. The concerned Bernard agrees to let her live freely in Paris with an allowance, on condition that she returns for family events as his spouse. Asked by Bernard for her motives for the poisoning, she is unable to give him any satisfactory explanation.

Cast

* Emmanuelle Riva as Thérèse Desqueyroux *

as Bernard Desqueyroux * Édith Scob as Anne de la Trave *

Sami Frey Sami Frey (born Sami Frei; 13 October 1937) is a French actor of Algerian and Italian descent. Among the films he starred in are '' En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud'' (1993), in which he portrays French poet and playwright Antonin Artaud, and '' Ba ...

as Jean Azevedo *

Renée Devillers Renée Devillers (1902–2000) was a French stage actor, stage and film actress.Goble p.328 Selected filmography * ''The Sweetness of Loving'' (1930) * ''The Man of the Hour'' (1937) * ''J'accuse! (1938 film), J'accuse!'' (1938) * ''The Blue Vei ...

as Madame de la Trave * Richard Saint-Bris as Hector de la Trave * Jeanne Pérez as Balionte * Hélène Dieudonné as Aunt Clara * Jean-Jacques Rémy as Specialist * Lucien Nat as Monsieur Larroque, Thérèse's father *

Jacques Monod Jacques Lucien Monod (; 9 February 1910 – 31 May 1976) was a French biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965, sharing it with François Jacob and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of e ...

as Maître Duros

Production

The film, which moved the novel's temporal setting from the 1920s to the 1960s but maintained the locale of Southwestern France, was shot at Franstudio, Paris Studio Cinéma, and in the communes of Bazas, Villandraut, and Uzeste. Franju's adaptation kept mostly close to the literary source, with the exception of omitting any of the novel's references to Catholicism or guilt on Thérèse's side, as Franju supported his protagonist's struggle for freedom. For the same reason, he rejected the possibility of a sequel to the story, other than Mauriac who had Thérèse punished in his 1935 novel ''La fin de la nuit''.

Release

''Thérèse Desqueyroux'' represented France at the 1962

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

, where it was screened on 4 September, and was released in French cinemas on 21 September the same year. The reaction of the French press, including the '' Cahiers du Cinéma'', was almost unanimously positive. Only M. Ranchal of '' Positif'' expressed his dislike for the film as it did not fulfil his expectations of a Franju film.

Awards

* Best Actress Award for Emmanuelle Riva at the 1962 Venice Film Festival

Soundtrack

In February 2005, the French soundtrack record label Play Time released Maurice Jarre's film music on Compact Disc, along with other scores which Jarre had composed for films by Franju.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Therese Desqueyroux 1962 films 1960s French-language films Films directed by Georges Franju 1962 drama films French drama films 1960s French films Films set in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Adaptations of works by François Mauriac