''Thérèse Desqueyroux'' is a 1962 French film directed by

Georges Franju Georges Franju (; 12 April 1912 – 5 November 1987) was a French filmmaker. He was born in Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine. Biography Early life Before working in French cinema, Franju held several different jobs. These included working for a ...

, based on

the novel ''The Novel'' (1991) is a novel written by American author James A. Michener. A departure from Michener's better known historical fiction, ''The Novel'' is told from the viewpoints of four different characters involved in the life and work of ...

of the same name by

François Mauriac François Charles Mauriac (, oc, Francés Carles 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 Nobel Prize ...

. Written by Franju and François Mauriac and

Claude Mauriac Claude Mauriac (25 April 1914 – 22 March 1996) was a French author and journalist. He was born in Paris, the eldest son of the author François Mauriac. Mauriac was the personal secretary of Charles de Gaulle from 1944 to 1949, before becoming ...

, it stars

Emmanuelle Riva Emmanuelle Riva (; 24 February 1927 – 27 January 2017) was a French actress, best known for her roles in the films ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) and '' Amour'' (2012). Riva was nominated for a BAFTA Award for her role in ''Hiroshima mon ...

and Philippe Noiret. Riva won

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

, the Étoile de Cristal award for Best Actress, and the Silver Goddess Award from the Mexican Cinema Journalists for her performance.

Plot

Thérèse lives in a mansion in the Landes, a region of pine forests, 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 woods and her affection for Bernard's half-sister, Anne. When an unwanted baby increases her 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. Discharged, she undertakes the lonely journey back to Bernard's estate. Unable to give him any satisfactory explanation, he locks her in a remote room where, allowed only cigarettes and wine, she slowly wastes away. When freed to attend a family gathering and meet Anne's new husband, people are shocked at her sickly appearance. Bernard then moves her to Paris with an allowance, on condition that she returns for family events as his spouse. He still cannot understand why she wanted to kill him.

Production

The film was shot at Studios Franstudio in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The exterior part of the film was shot at

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,6 ...

Cast

- Thérèse Desqueyroux * Philippe Noiret - Bernard Desqueyroux *

Édith Scob Édith Scob (21 October 1937 – 26 June 2019) was a French film and theatre actress, best known for her role as the daughter with a disfigured face in '' Eyes Without a Face'' (1960). Early life and family Scob was born Édith Helena Vladimirov ...

- Anne de la Trave *

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

- Jean Azevedo *

Renée Devillers Renée Devillers (1902–2000) was a French stage and film actress.Goble p.328 Selected filmography * '' The Sweetness of Loving'' (1930) * ''The Man of the Hour ''The Man of the Hour'' (French: ''L'homme du jour'') is a 1937 French musical fi ...

- Mme de la Trave *

Jeanne Pérez Jeanne Pérez (28 September 1894 – 11 May 1975) was a French film actress. She appeared in 50 films between 1930 and 1975. Filmography References External links * 1894 births 1975 deaths French film actresses People from Caste ...

- Balionte *

Hélène Dieudonné Helene or Hélène may refer to: People * Helene (given name), a Greek feminine given name * Helen of Troy, the daughter of Zeus and Leda *Helene, a figure in Greek mythology who was a friend of Aphrodite and helped her seduce Adonis *Helene (A ...

- Aunt Clara *

Richard Saint-Bris Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'str ...

- Hector de la Trave * Jean-Jacques Rémy - Specialist

Soundtrack

Long after the film's original release, in February 2005, the French soundtrack

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

Play Time released the soundtrack on

Compact Disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in O ...

along with other soundtracks performed by Jarre. This also includes soundtracks from other Franju films, including ''

Head Against the Wall ''Head Against the Wall'' (french: La Tête contre les murs) is a 1959 French drama film directed by Georges Franju which stars Pierre Brasseur, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Anouk Aimée, and Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( , ; ...

'' and '' Eyes Without a Face''.

Track listing

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