"I'm still young and yet it sometimes seems to me that I've reached the autumn of my life." This tragic statement, taken from the diaries of Adele Hugo, daughter of Victor, is both the doomed statement of a young girl driven mad by love, and an ironic testament to the performance of a then 20 year old Isabelle Adjani. Francois Truffaut takes us back to 1863, with the American Civil War in full swing, and France and Great Britain still undecided in participation. Young Adele Hugo arrives at a camp in Nova Scotia seeking out her great love Lieutenant Pinson (Bruce Robinson),who she had embarked on a love affair with and whose potential marriage had been frowned upon.

What may have become a rather frustrating depiction of a desperate woman in love, Truffaut takes special care to create an air of Greek tragedy, as we witness the emotional deterioration of our protagonist, and her desperate pursuit of the unwilling Lieutenant Pinson. Adjani, simply unnervingly beautiful (seriously, how do the French keep doing it?),gives everything to the role. Adele herself, as depicted in the picture, is a time-bomb of emotions, giving every ounce of her strength into the tidal wave of pure love she feels - possibly a result of her father's grand romantic poems and novels - so anything less from Adjani wouldn't haven't done Adele justice.

This is a different kind of work to what I've previously seen from Truffaut - I'm more familiar with his New Wave productions. Adele H. is filmed in dark lighting, acting almost like a character itself signifying the darkness clouding in Adele's emotional torment. Victor Hugo's presence can be felt throughout the film, although he is never seen. Adele's story was taken from her diaries and the frequent letters she wrote to her parents, both of whom were concerned for her well- being. She attempts to keep her identity a secret, but friends are shocked when they uncover her secret, and the film works almost as a testament to Victor Hugo, a bow to his sheer immensity. But whether this is an ode to tragic intellectualism, or a human story that grabbed Truffaut's heart, I'll never know, but this is a gently haunting tale, and one that will make you want to personally open the eyes of Adele to the possibilities that are all around her, were she not so swept away by madness and love.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Aware of upcoming challenges on ICM to watch as many French films and 70's flicks in a month, I took a look at the 70's credits of auteur François Truffaut. Getting Small Change from a local shop, I searched on Amazon for a tantalising second title,and got set to meet Adele H.

View on the film:

Taking 7 years to reach the screen after plans for it to be a grand-scale epic starring either Jeanne Moreau or Catherine Deneuve, the limitations placed on co-writer/(with regular collaborators Suzanne Schiffman and Jean Gruault) directing auteur François Truffaut to go small-scale actually benefit the title,as Truffaut reunites with cinematographer Jacqueline Guyot and weaves the camera along the crumbling 1860's streets of Halifax, Nova Scotia,where Adele's red dress stands out like a shimmering light. Working on their second historical/Costume Drama after the magnificent The Wild Child, Truffaut and Guyot expand on the classical elegance of Child with New Wave stylisation seamlessly blended in of an eye-catching crane shot across a see-through building, and icy waves of overlapping images bringing to shore the drowned memories of Adele.

Telling the story from Adele's own diary,the writers cleverly adapt her words with the themes across all of Truffaut's work,with the young Adele being detached from her parents in Nova Scotia,and desperately grasping for a love that will never make her fulfilled. Taking on a roll that titans Moreau and Deneuve had their eyes on for years, 20 year old Isabelle Adjani gives an extremely charismatic performance as Adele,whose experience with schizophrenia is treated with great sensitivity by Adjani,that is matched by Adjani's wide-eyed passionate young love,for the story of Adele. H.

Having focused on a historical even with "The Wild Child", François Truffaut looked at another one with "L'histoire d'Adèle H." ("The Story of Adele H." in English). The protagonist is Victor Hugo's daughter, living in Nova Scotia while in love with a British officer there. But the love does not get reciprocated. Adèle begins to fall apart.

I don't know anything about the story. What I can say is that Truffaut gives Adèle real complexity as a character, and Isabelle Adjani's performance as her is among the most masterful that I've ever seen in a movie. The way that the movie focuses on Adèle makes the viewer feel as if they're sinking into madness with her. The point is that this movie is a masterpiece, and I recommend it to everyone.