''Thérèse Desqueyroux'' is a 2012 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

Claude Miller Claude Miller (20 February 1942 – 4 April 2012) was a French film director, producer and screenwriter. Life and career Claude Miller was born to a Jewish family. A student at Paris' IDHEC film school from 1962 through 1963, Miller had his f ...

, 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 ...

. The film stars

Audrey Tautou Audrey Justine Tautou (; born 9 August 1976) is a French actress. She made her acting debut at age 18 on television, and her feature film debut in '' Venus Beauty Institute'' (1999), for which she received critical acclaim and won the César Awa ...

and

Gilles Lellouche Gilles Lellouche (; born 5 July 1972) is a French actor and director. He was nominated twice for a César Award; in 2006 for Most Promising Actor and in 2011 for Best Supporting actor for his performance in '' Little White Lies'' (2010). Earl ...

. It closed the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Austrian filmma ...

, where it was screened out of competition.

Plot

In the south-west of France, in the late 1920s, Thérèse Laroque agrees to a marriage of convenience between wealthy families by marrying Bernard Desqueyroux, a bourgeois landowner. They then settle on his family's property, located in a vast area stretching over acres of pine forests. Bernard is a local man with a passion for hunting and defending the family traditions with conviction. However, Thérèse is quickly stifled by the monotony of her married life. She gives birth to a daughter (Marie), but her boredom seems to grow every day; she is looking "somewhere else". Bernard suffers from an unspecified condition for which he is prescribed arsenic. Thérèse takes the opportunity to attempt to poison her husband, but in forging a prescription, she is discovered. In addition to being dishonored by her own family, she is disowned by her husband's. She faces justice for the alleged murder attempt until her husband and in-laws, who intend to keep up appearances within their provincial society, make up their own version of what happened. The case is dismissed and Thérèse is confined to the house. Eventually she is allowed to leave and live in Paris on the understanding that she will only return for weddings and funerals.

Cast

as Thérèse Desqueyroux *

as Bernard Desqueyroux *

Anaïs Demoustier Anaïs Aude Marie Michèle Demoustier (; born 29 September 1987) is a French actress. She was nominated for Most Promising Actress twice at the César Awards, in 2009 for '' Les Grandes Personnes'' and in 2011 for '' Living on Love Alone''. In 2 ...

as Anne de la Trave * Catherine Arditi as Madame de la Trave * Isabelle Sadoyan as Aunt Clara * Stanley Weber as Jean Azevedo * Francis Perrin as Monsieur Larroque *

Yves Jacques Yves Jacques OC (born 10 May 1956) is a Canadian film, television and stage actor.Yves Jacques ...

as Lawyer * Alba Gaïa Kraghede Bellugi as Therese Larroque

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Therese Desqueyroux 2012 films 2012 drama films 2010s French-language films Films based on French novels Films directed by Claude Miller Films set in the 1920s Films set in France Films shot in France France 3 Cinéma films French drama films 2010s French films Adaptations of works by François Mauriac French-language drama films