The Story of Adele H.

Infobox_Film
name = The Story of Adele H.


imdb_id = 0073114
writer = François Truffaut
Suzanne Schiffman
Jean Gruault
starring = Isabelle Adjani
Bruce Robinson
Sylvia Marriott
Joseph Blatchley
director = François Truffaut
producer = Claude Miller
Marcel Berbert
distributor =
released = October 8, 1975
runtime = 96 min
language = French/English
budget =

"The Story of Adele H." (also "L'Histoire d'Adèle H.") is a 1975 English/French film which tells the story of the real-life Adèle Hugo, the daughter of writer Victor Hugo, whose obsessive unrequited love for a naval officer led to her downfall. The film is based on her diaries. It stars Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson and Sylvia Marriott.

The movie was adapted by Jan Dawson, Jean Gruault, Frances Vernor Guille, Suzanne Schiffman and François Truffaut. It was directed by Truffaut.

ynopsis

The film tells the story of Adèle Hugo, the second daughter of Victor Hugo, who is devastated by the accidental death of her elder sister Léopoldine Hugo. Hugo is living in exile on the island of Guernsey where Adele meets and is seized by an obsessive love for a British officer, Lieutenant Pinson. She follows him to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Barbados, West Indies and gradually degenerates as she realizes her love is unrequited. She descends into despair and madness. She dies in Paris in 1915, in her 85th year, in the asylum to which her father had committed her.

Director's comments

About the film, Truffaut wrote:

:"In writing the script of 'L'Enfant sauvage' based on the memoirs of Dr Jean Itard, we discovered, Jean Gruault and myself, the enormous pleasure of writing historical fiction based on real events, without inventing anything and without altering documented facts. If it is difficult to construct an unanimistic intrigue involving a dozen characters whose paths entwine, it is almost as difficult to write an animistic film focusing on a single person. I believe that it was this solitary aspect which attracted me most to this project; having produced love stories involving two and three people, I wanted to attempt to create a passionate experience involving a character where the passion was one-way only."Fact|date=February 2007

Film locations

Many of the exterior scenes were shot on location in St Peter Port, Guernsey, and many of the film extras were well-known locals. Both Sir Raymond Falla and Sir Cecil de Sausmarez were, at the time, prominent island politicians. Scenes set in Halifax were mainly interiors and appear to be studio setups. They were not filmed in the city.

Cast

*Isabelle Adjani : Adèle Hugo
*Bruce Robinson : Lieutenant Albert Pinson
*Sylvia Mariott : Mrs Saunders
*Joseph Blatchley : Whistler, bookseller
*Ivry Gitlis : Hypnotist
*Ruben Dorey : Mr Saunders
*Clive Gillingham : Keaton
*Louise Bourdet : Victor Hugo's servant
*Sir Cecil de Sausmarez : Mr Lenoir, notary
*Sir Raymond Falla : Judge Johnstone
*Roger Martin : Dr Murdock
*Jean-Pierre Leursse : "le scribe noir"
*Carl Hathwell : Pinson's subaltern
*François Truffaut : officer "(uncredited)"

Awards

* Isabelle Adjani was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1975.
* French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, Prix Méliès, for best French film in 1976.

See also

*Cinema of France
*List of French language films
*Mental illness in films

External links

*imdb title|id=0073114|title=L'Histoire d'Adèle H
* [http://www.reelyredd.com/hugo.html Reely's Poetry Pages] Hear "Demain, des l'aube"

Further reading

* Hugo, Adèle, "Le Journal d'Adèle Hugo. Introduction et notes par Frances Vernor Guille", Paris, 1968