Therese Desqueyroux [2012]

This drama considers what a woman might be forced to become when totally suppressed by her husband, family and environment.Because they are all suffering from MALE SUPREMACY SYNDROME. I.e. whatever a woman can think of as innovating "Must be wrong".Women have been suppressed by men since the beginning of time,which became more obvious since writing books about tragedies became fashionable, by Goethe, Jane Austen, Josephine de Beauharnais and Napoleon, Les Miserables etc., .To write a book about women emancipation by a man is a rather new approach, a sign of compassion for women and these idiotic males.The shown style of behaviour and dress are authentic for the era depicted, the actors play very convincing characters. The movie is a true historic drama worth having to watch with others for entertainment and/or discussion. Not all males are chauvinistic. Not all women take drastic measures.It brings understanding of women-behaviour in past and presence. Food for thought. Ideas to be different. I love the story.

This is a review of the excellent 2013 Region B2 Blu-ray from Artificial Eye. The picture is deliciously clear, but the colours are slightly washed-out, which is probably intended. It helps convey both the era (the late 20s) and the languorous heat which suffuses much of the action. The sound is excellent. The French dialogue is rendered in well-paced English subtitles, which do slightly ‘pre-load’.My husband and I love French cinema, and watch a great deal, and Audrey Tautou has certainly been a shining beacon in recent years. As the eponymous ‘Amélie’(2001) and as Mathilde in ‘A Very Long Engagement’(2004), she is luminous. That is emphatically not the case here, in a film which, like others here, left us unsure about the message and about our reaction. Personally, I wanted to love it, but found myself singularly ambivalent.This 2012 film is the second adaptation of a famous French novel from 1927. Writer François Mauriac was a massively influential French literary figure. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1952, was a member of the Académie Française from 1933, was awarded the Légion d’honneur in 1958. Mauriac spoke out on a number of major, controversial issues, opposing French rule in Indochina, torture in Algeria and (although he himself was a very early activist in the Resistance) calls to flush out and punish Wartime collaborators. He also criticised the Vatican for supporting Franco, but ardently defended the Catholic Church.His book, faithfully mirrored by Georges Franju’s original adaptation in 1962, does not follow a straight timeline. Franju’s version was criticised for being too faithful, and I have not (yet) seen it, but it does sound perhaps more convincing. This version is by the late Claude Miller ~ his final film. It diverges from the novel and 1962 film, because it follows a straight, chronological timeline, which it underlines by showing the exact date of each event, as it happens. 10/10 for clarity, but I wonder if it thus undermines the message. The book shows the consequence, and then unpicks the reasons the events happened. This film shows us the events and moves through to the results. And despite the temporal clarity of the narrative, it was frankly at this point that I lost the plot! Because I was quite mystified about how Thérèse (played by Tautou) moved from apparently enthusiastic betrothed, to clearly bored and disengaged wife.The novel is about the internal debates of an independent-minded and intelligent young woman, trapped in a soul-sapping marriage and monotonous life with a boring, conventional, unemotional husband. It is also about the French Bourgeoisie's fixation with ownership of land, and respectability ~ at any cost. The film fails to explain how Thérèse could not have predicted the outcome of her marriage to Bernard, leading to such early disenchantment. Her motivations are slightly hazy, and she is not easy to identify with. All the characters are decidedly chilly, entitled and consumed with status.So, beautifully filmed, interesting, well acted, but eventually rather cold and a little disappointing and underwhelming.

Brilliant film

I studied this for A level in 1971.I wish I could have seen this film then as it tells the story in chronological order which is better than jumping around in the book.Typical French style. I liked it but not for everyone.

I love Audrey Tauto as an actor. Her acting once again great. The story how women used to be married for wealth and status. Her dislike of the marriage and the eventual consequences, are distressing to watch as a woman myself. I was willing her to be able to be herself. A good film to watch if you are a fan of Audrey Tatutoo.In French with ENGLISH SUBTITLES.

In "The Da Vinci Code" Ms Tautou's considerable talents were wasted, she was merely an adjunct to Tom Hanks. However, in Therese Desqueyroux she is magnificent as a wife trapped in a loveless arranged marriage. From the beginning of the film it is clear where she will end up. In many ways Therese Desqueyroux deals, in a less melodramatic way,with the same issues as Kristen Scott Thomas in "Leaving"(Partir). This should be an unmissable film on your 'want to see' list. Don't let the eponymous lead's tricky name put you off

Quite a serious story, but with a few twists and a message about the role of women in the 20s

I love Audrey Tautou and will pretty much watch anything with her in it. I bought this and settle down to watch - it was not hard to follow but there was an almost unbelievable lack of emotion from Audrey. I think this was deliberate but somehow the film seemed to be her just in a variety of different scenes with the same facial expression. And dramatic elements of the story seemed a little weakened by the lack of emotion attached to them.If you are an Audrey fan, you still need to watch this, she is still an amazing actress, but I couldn't say i would feel a desire to watch it again or particularly recommend it.

Merveilleux

ua tengo en mi poder, agracere revisar todos mis otros pedido para que por errar no me repitan...`prefiero hacer otros pedidos

Audrey Tatum à son meilleur ! Histoire plutôt banale mais description parfaite du besoin d'une femme de se sortir de sa condition d'épouse obéissante.

this film , though superbly acted , is about the failure of humanity to connect ,to each other as wellas to to universe at large both known and unknown . it fails me as the motive for the desire to connect appears ro be extremely superficial . thus does not speak about deeper issues or mysteries to me leaving me with is that all there is