''Thérèse Raquin'' (also ''The Adultress'') is a 1953 French-Italian

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. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Marcel Carné and starring

Simone Signoret Simone Signoret (; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a ...

Raf Vallone The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's Air force, air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal ...

and Jacques Duby. The story is loosely based on the 1867 novel of the same title by

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

but with the setting updated to 1953.Goble p. 979 It was shot at the Neuilly Studios in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and on location in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art director Paul Bertrand. It was screened at the

14th Venice International Film Festival The 14th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 20 August to 4 September 1953. The Golden Lion of Saint Mark was not awarded this year. The jury, having examined the films in competition and noting the considerable average high l ...

where it won the

Silver Lion The Silver Lion ( it, Leone d'argento, also known as Silver Lion for Best Direction) is an annual award presented for best directing achievements in a feature film at official competition section of the Venice Film Festival since 1998. The pri ...

Plot

Thérèse, an orphan, has been brought up by her widowed aunt in a dingy backstreet shop in Lyon and married to her sickly first cousin Camille. Into their stifling existence comes Laurent, a lively Italian truck driver. He is immediately struck by Thérèse, who succumbs to him but will not abandon her husband and aunt. Once aware of the relationship, Camille and his mother plot to get rid of Thérèse. Camille will take her to Paris and hand her over to another aunt, but Laurent climbs onto the train and, his temper overcoming him, pushes Camille out in the dark at full speed. He slips out at the next stop and Thérèse maintains to the police that she was asleep in her compartment the whole time. The news of Camille's death gives his mother a stroke that leaves her speechless, cared for by Thérèse who warns Laurent to stay away and not attract police attention. However there was another man asleep in Thérèse's compartment on the train and, when he sees the newspaper reports, comes down to Lyon and asks for half a million francs to stay silent. Knowing that Thérèse and Laurent might kill him rather than pay, he leaves a letter with the maid in his hotel, asking her to post it to the police if he does not return. They manage to find 400,000 francs, which he accepts and gives them a signed receipt but, on leaving, he is knocked over by a lorry and dies. The film ends as the maid takes his letter to the post.

Cast

as Thérèse Raquin *

as Laurent LeClaire * Jacques Duby as Camille Raquin * Sylvie as Madame Raquin * Maria Pia Casilio as Georgette, la bonne * Marcel André as Michaud * Martial Rèbe as Grivet * Paul Frankeur as Le contrôleur * Alain Terrane as Un camionneur * Bernard Véron as Le postier *

Francette Vernillat Francette Vernillat (16 April 1937 – 2 December 2019) was a French actress. She was often a voice actor for characters playing young boys. Filmography *''Autant en emporte le vent'' (1939) *''L'ombre d'un doute'' (1943) *''Monsieur Vincent'' (1 ...

as Françoise, la bossue *

Lucien Hubert Lucien is a male given name. It is the French form of Luciano or Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of Lucius. Lucien, Saint Lucien, or Saint-Lucien may also refer to: People Given name * Lucien of Beauvais, Christian saint *Lucien, a band member ...

as Le chef de gare de Dijon * Madeleine Barbulée as Madame Noblet, une cliente *

Nerio Bernardi Nerio Bernardi (23 July 1899 – 12 January 1971) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in nearly 200 films between 1918 and 1970. He was born in Bologna, Italy and died in Rome, Italy. Selected filmography * ''Nero'' (1922) * '' The Shep ...

as Le médecin * Roland Lesaffre as Riton, le matelot maître-chanteur

Reception

The Japanese filmmaker

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

cited ''Thérèse Raquin'' as one of his 100 favorite films.

References

Bibliography

* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Hayward, Susan. ''Simone Signoret: The Star as Cultural Sign''. Continuum, 2004.

External links

* 1953 films Films directed by Marcel Carné French thriller drama films 1950s French-language films Italian thriller drama films 1950s thriller drama films Films based on works by Émile Zola Adultery in films French black-and-white films Italian black-and-white films Lux Film films Films shot in Lyon Films set in Lyon 1950s French films 1950s Italian films {{1950s-thriller-film-stub