Thérèse - DVD

Movie: Southern France, late 1920s: the maladjusted Thérèse (Audrey Tautou) enters into a marriage of convenience with Bernard Desqueyroux (Gilles Lellouche), the brother of her best friend Ann (Anaïs Demoustier). The marriage merges the estates of both families, which seems to ensure their prosperity in the long run. Thérèse feels genuine love only for her woods. Otherwise, she always prefers rationality and rarely allows her feelings to guide her. Ann is quite different. She believes in the great romantic love, which she thinks she has found in the Jew Jean (Stanley Weber). But for him Ann is only a pleasant pastime. He enjoys his freedom and his unboundedness - a longing that is also growing stronger in Thérèse. To escape the shackles of her marriage at Bernard's side, she decides to resort to drastic measures. But fate cannot be changed so easily...

Thérèse is already the second adaptation of the novel Thérèse Desqueyroux by Nobel Prize winner François Mauriac, after Georges Franja's 1962 film The Deed of Therese D.. This very worn adaptation of the novel is the legacy of director Claude Miller (A Secret) who passed away in April 2012 shortly before the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. His last work is a very well acted, quietly and sensitively told drama that lives especially from its wonderful images. Shot in parts of Bordeaux, the writer's home, and along the Gironde river in southwestern France, the landscape shots combined with the authentic-looking set are a real feast for the eyes.

At times, however, the mise-en-scène feels a little unwieldy and the characters difficult to get to grips with. Because the story is told in a very restrained way and also the acting of the actors corresponds to this, the motives for Thérèse's actions do not become apparent to the extent that would have been necessary to be able to really sympathize and understand her. If you don't know the novel, you'll have to look beneath the surface of the film in some moments while watching it, in order not to feel lost somehow. And not all viewers are likely to be able to do that.

Besides that, Thérèse is a really accomplished and stirring drama, carried by a strong Audrey Tautou and an even stronger visual language. It's not a light, feel-good film, but rather some pretty dark stuff at times. Nevertheless, Miller skilfully manages to avoid the viewer being crushed by the heaviness of the story and its emotions, and a kind of redemptive feeling of happiness does set in at the end. For friends of the sophisticated French arthouse drama, the last film by Claude Miller is therefore also: absolutely worth seeing, despite minor lengths and dramaturgical weaknesses!

Picture + Sound: The image of the DVD is very clean, the powerful colors give the atmosphere of the picturesque landscape very well. Image sharpness is at a good to very good level, with the good level largely maintained even in the darker scenes. The audio, as is not uncommon with this genre, is very restrained, with the dialogue and quiet score dominating the tonal action at most moments. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the DVD has a brief behind-the-scenes look (approx. 8 min.), as well as the trailer for the film to offer. A bit meager.

Conclusion: Thérèse is a successful adaptation of the novel by François Mauriac. The last film of director Claude Miller, who died in 2012, pleases with its engaging imagery, good actors and an unexciting, yet somehow rousing production. The DVD is technically well realized, only the bonus material is a bit meager. Nevertheless, a clear recommendation can be made for lovers of sophisticated French arthouse dramas. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp