When "The Adultress" (a.k.a. "Thérèse Raquin") begins, you soon see a big problem. Young Thérèse (Simone Signoret) and her wimpy husband Camille live with his mother--and this mother babies him and dominates the household. This awful woman insists that it's a woman's duty to serve her husband and romance has no place in marriage! The marriage is clearly a ponderous existence. It's obvious any sane wife would soon get sick of this sort of nothing life--and, not surprisingly, Thérèse does, though she does not yet realize it. It all begins to change when a virile working-class man, Laurent (Raf Vallone) brings the husband home one night when the husband is drunk. Laurent and Thérèse meet and things slowly begin to smolder. And, like in "The Postman Always Rings Twice", the lovers decide they cannot continue like this--and eventually they do away with Thérèse's emasculated husband. Of course, that's not the end of the story.
While you might think the film borrowed from James Cain's novel, the story is actually much older (and Cain might have been inspired to write "The Postman Always Rings Twice") and is from an Emil Zola novel. The parallels are certainly obvious. However, in "The Adultress" you actually feel sorry for the wife and given the awfulness of the husband and his mother, you CAN sympathize and almost excuse the killing--especially since it was not premeditated. In the other, however, the wife is essentially an awful conniver and the husband, though old, is a decent and loving man. I actually think the way "The Adultress" constructs the story this is better, as it's much easier to connect with the characters and care about their fates. You don't so much excuse their actions but understand and empathize a bit for them. Plus, Thérèse is the opposite of Cora (from "The Postman")--she DOES have a conscience and she is not exactly evil.
Overall, "The Adultress" is an excellent film with exceptional performances. I also loved the moral ambiguities about the film--ambiguities that make the viewer think. I also appreciated the very unusual and very surprising ending--it's worth it!
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