The Adultress (1953) User Reviews (21)

The last great Carné.

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 6 February 2002]

People generally think that Carné's heyday comes to an end with "les portes de la nuit" (1946)And it's sure that- whatever the new wave's view on the matter-these thirties and forties movies are among the very best French cinema gave to the world("le jour se lève" "quai des brumes""les enfants du paradis" and "hôtel du nord" ,to name but four are the crème de la crème ,easily equalling the best of Renoir)One always tries to minimize Carné's importance,mentioning the actors (Gabin,Arletty,Simon,et al)and Jacques Prévert's screen plays.One often forgets that Carné did direct these masterworks and he always chose the right actors,decorators(Alexandre Trauner who was to work in Hollywood later),musicians,with mind-boggling results.

"Therese Raquin" (1953)came before the new wave but Carné 's credibility was sinking fast and he was given the coup de grace by his young "nouvelle vague" colleagues -before being restored to favor after 1980,actually after he stopped directing ."Therese Raquin is a fine mixing of pre and post -war elements

Pre-war:the lovers' impossible dream,fate -here represented by a young sailor-,scumbags who cannot stand true love-the scene on the train between Raf Vallone and Jacques Duby recalls the famous one between Jean Gabin and Jules Berry in "le jour se lève" (1939) particularly when Vallone screams"are you gonna shut your mouth?"(the lines are almost the same).

Post-war:the influence of the film noir-which was influenced by Marcel Carné's work mainly "le jour se lève"-who cares if it's a Zola adaptation?:the scenarists have transposed the action to the fifties,to the era of the making of the movie,and James Cain could have written it as the story reminds the spectator "the postman always rings twice:more than Tay Garnett's excellent version(1946),"Therese Raquin" is actually closer to Luchino Visconti's (Ossessione,1942),because of the Italian Raf Vallone's presence.

But in spite of the transposition,Zola's spirit remains intact:the stifling petit bourgeois milieu in which Thérèse (Simone Signoret)lives is meticulously depicted:the notions store ,the walk on the Rhone banks,the ludicrous board game,the dreadful mother-in-law(Sylvie is absolutely extraordinary;after she suffered an attack after her son's death,she's completely paralyzed ; only her eyes (her frightening eyes) are alive,accusing her daughter-in-law:Cain's eye in the Bible.In her over possessive part of a mother who has turned her only child into a poor guy,a sissy,Sylvie surpasses the excellent Signoret and Vallone.

No,Carné's career was not over in 1946,but after "Thérèse Raquin",the slump began:""les tricheurs" (1958)tried to catch up with the nouvelle vague with mixed artistical results,but has remained watchable."Trois chambres à Manhattan" (1965)was moderately interesting,thanks to its stars ,Maurice Ronet and Annie Girardot.After,it's downhill:"les jeunes loups" (1967)is a would be "a la mode" bomb,"les assassins de l'ordre"(1971) tried André Cayatte's style ,not exactly the right move and "la merveilleuse visite"(1973) failed dismally(as in "les visiteurs du soir",(1942),Satan sent two people,it's God's turn who send an angel!)

"Thérèse Raquin" should not be missed.You won't be disappointed .

Vivid and brooding, a Euro-noir, with a cold, stunning Signoret...slow but alive

[secondtake · 8/10 · 30 August 2010]

Therese Raquin (1953)

You may be familiar with the lead actress, Simone Signoret, from Les Diaboliques, made a year after this film, and she plays a similar conflicted or complex, strong type of woman in a sordid world. She plays the title character, based on a Zola story, who is swept into a romance she doesn't completely expect and then a murder that she doesn't completely abhor.

And she is rather brilliant, a slightly different type than American actresses of the time, but commanding in her stoic intelligence. The two men are both first rate, one a foreign (Italian) charmer and the other a sharper fellow who is only slightly over his head. In fact, everyone is just slightly extended into decisions they don't quite know how to make. The fact that things go wrong is just part of great drama, and part of life, too.

The filming (photography and editing) is totally gorgeous here, The plot progresses slowly enough it might seem to drag, but I think it works in the long run, setting a deliberate and inevitable pace to events. What is maybe weakest is the ending, where things get a little spectacular, perhaps in a fascinating way, but certainly no longer believable.

Director Marcel Carne is no household name in this country, but the strength of this film alone makes me want to find others and get a feel for his style. Recommended for those who like drama, melodrama, and a sort of Euro-noir style, and who don't mind reading subtitles.

The stranger in the train

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 18 May 2007]

Emile Zola's novel about adultery, blackmail and murder, was adapted for the screen by Marcel Carne and Chales Spaak, two men who knew about all the elements that show so prominently in the book. In fact, Mr. Carne seems the obvious choice to tackle this work that packs quite a lot. Emile Zola was one of France's best writers of his time. His work always reflected human beings at a crossroad, as is the case in "Therese Raquin", one of his best novels.

Therese, the young woman at the center of the story, is married to her sickly cousin Camille. One look at Therese tells it all, she's caught in a no win situation as long as she remains married. Therese is ready to satisfy the sexual desires bottled in her. Enter the dashing young driver Laurent. He likes Therese and she feels, for once in her lifetime, the spark that brings her to life. It's clear she falls for this stranger with a passion she didn't know she had within her.

Zola seems to be a role model for writers like James Cain, who also saw what passion could do to sexually repressed individuals. The theme of "Therese Raquin" evokes some modern novels like Mr. Cain's "The Postman Always Ring Twice", and "Double Indemnity", to cite only two of his works also turned into successful films.

Camille, who senses his wife's betrayal, decides to take her away to some relatives where she would be safe, away from the temptation of the handsome man that could mean her salvation. Therese and Laurent have another thing in mind, as it becomes clear when the young lover happens to be in the same train as the Raquin. Little prepares them for the stranger that is also riding the train and who will come back to haunt them.

Simone Signoret makes an appealing Therese. Ms. Signoret was an interesting actress to watch on any of the films she appeared. Therese was one of her best creations as she gives the director a nuanced performance in what remains to be one of her best roles she played on the screen. Handsome Raf Vallone appears as the man who seduces the beautiful woman in an unhappy marriage. Sylvie is perfect as the mother who knew in her heart about her niece's betrayal. Marcel Andre as the blackmailer Michaud also creates the necessary tension for the lovers.

"Therese Raquin" is not seen often theses days, but it's worth a look for people who love the genre to watch one of Marcel Carne's best works in the French cinema.

Racquin Ruin

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 19 November 2005]

Because of the major impact they had as a team on both French cinema and cinema in general we tend to find ourselves speaking of Marcel Carne and Jacques Prevert as Pre and Post their collaboration, which spanned approximately ten years and delivered seven films, Jenny, Drole de Drame, Quai des Brumes, Le Jour se leve, Les Visiteurs du soir, Les Enfants du paradis and Les Portes de la nuit, which embedded themselves in the memory-banks of movie buffs the world over. Therese Racquin is post-Prevert Carne, dating from 1953, some seven years after their final collaboration Les Portes de la nuit and although Carne was never to make a wholly satisfying film without Prevert this is not as bad as you might think. It's tempting to find echoes of Double Indemnity inasmuch as there are scenes where 1) an adulterer lover hides behind an open door and 2) the 'inconvenient' husband is murdered on a train. Against this is the fact that in Double Indemnity it was the woman (Stanwyck) hiding behind McMurray's door as he ushered out Barton Keyes whilst here it is the man (Raf Vallone) hiding behind Therese's door as she speaks to her mother-in-law and in Indemnity Stanwyck's husband (Tom Powers) wasn't actually killed 'on' the train but his body was left on the tracks as IF he had fallen off. Here the confrontation between husband, wife and wife's lover takes place on the train and results in the husband's death. There was no way that Carne was going to make a BAD film but the Prevert touch is definitely missed. Signoret is, of course, superb but Raf Vallone was way out of his league in this company. The black and white photography enhances the mood and the 'feel' is about three-quarters right but the ill-contrived deus-ex machina lets down all that has gone before. Well worth watching.

Don't throw this one off the train.

[FilmSocietyMtl · 8/10 · 22 September 2007]

I'll have to disagree with some of the more negative comments about this film. Marcel Carne has succeeded beautifully in capturing the mood and major themes of Zola's novel in THERESE RAQUIN. It's nice to see a film from the period dealing with common working class people caught up in the turmoil of love and everyday life. The main romantic leads initially seem a little mismatched but by film's end the ice has more than melted between them. How many times have we seen the female lead fall too quickly for her suitor. Here it takes its sweet time and plays the better for it. Signoret's titular character seems almost a bit too stoic but considering her numbingly bland and lenghty marital situation, it may well be authentic. As many women are in reality, Therese is fiercely loyal to her husband, whether he deserves it or not. The ruggedly handsome Raf Vallone is ideally cast as the trucker who steals her attention and makes a good contrast to her dishrag of a husband. A blackmailing sailor who appears in the middle of the film before making a menacing reappearance near the end is very effectively played by Rolland leSaffre. He is as creepy as Robert Mitchum in CAPE FEAR. Do seek this one out and enjoy the ride!

Contrived, but So Was the Book

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 19 September 2012]

Emile Zola wrote page turners. He focused on the injustices of the great unwashed of France, from miners to prostitutes. His books were incredibly naturalistic and moralistic. His characters seldom came through unscathed but made a statement about the cultural milieu of the time. This is a story about passion. Therese Raquin is the wife of a tiresome mama's boy hypochondriac. She is beautiful and is married to this childish wimp. Along comes the handsome truck driver after she has spent six empty years with this guy. They have tryst and even let the husband know that he is going to lose his wife. Everything changes when, on a train trip to Paris, fate takes over. Granted, there are lots of plot contrivances, but that's the literary style of the period. Also, in the naturalist tradition, the characters often lose control of their destinies. There is a broader moral sense that trumps the likable ending that people are used to in movies made at this time. The writer and the director can't turn their backs on issues like these and so life goes on and the impulsive and evil are punished alike.

A fine updating of Zola to postwar France.

[MOscarbradley · 8/10 · 10 October 2019]

Not the best of Marcel Carne by any means but an intelligent, measured if somewhat conventional screen version of Zola's novel, nevertheless. Simone Signoret is "Therese Raquin", the married woman whose affair with truck-driver Raf Vallone leads to murder and blackmail. She is, of course, excellent but this is Vallone's movie; it is an effortless performance of an ordinary man caught up in events over which he has no real control. It's also superbly shot in Lyon by Roger Hubert and the updating to postwar France fits the plot perfectly. In an American setting this could be by James M. Cain though the climatic twist is neater than anything Cain might have given us.

Raquin tour

[melvelvit-1 · 7/10 · 13 December 2007]

When a woman who has never known love or happiness has a chance at both, everyone in her orbit suffers the consequences.

Very loosely based on Emile Zola's 1867 novel of adulterous lust, murder, torment, and poetic justice, Marcel Carne's THERESE RAQUIN stayed true to the spirit of the Realist movement as a character study of a woman undone by the pressures of her environment. Therese (Simone Signoret) is so resigned to her life and it's injustices -and so misguided in her obligations to it- that her story could easily have been subtitled "The Misfortunes Of Virtue". Long past quiet desperation, Therese has anesthetized herself to a dismal future and when her husband's new-found friend, Laurent (Raf Vallone), falls for her it's impossible for the woman to break free from her self-imposed prison. The love she feels for Laurent nearly stirs her to action but ultimately the affair only emphasizes a "No Exit" situation. Passion and premeditated murder characterized both the Zola horror novel and Luchino Visconti's James M. Cain-inspired OSSESSIONE (to which Carne's film has been erroneously compared) but here they have been eliminated and an inexorable fatalism have taken their place. Therese's existence is self-fulfilling prophesy and her bad karma literally and figuratively drain the life out of her husband and his mother, her lover, and even her blackmailer. Bitter irony is only the natural course of events and the black cat she keeps as a pet symbolizes the bad luck its mistress brings; when Therese's lover kills her husband in a fit of anger, the attempt to cover it up only hastens their love's pre-ordained end. Adapting Emile Zola is an ambitious undertaking; the effects of heredity and surroundings are key in his works but so is the sex and savagery inherent in the human beast and it can't be cut out without emasculating the whole. There's some passion in Vallone's Laurent before Signoret's inverted Emma Bovary begins to have an effect on him but not enough to carry a film. Director Marcel Carne took a theme or two beloved of Zola as well as Film Noir and, by having the heroine sleepwalk to her fate, created a strangely numbing portrait of dashed dreams in a bourgeoisie trap with no way out. Setting the tale in the present instead of the late 1800s when women's options were far more limited only diluted the theme of an oppressive environment's effects. On the plus side, the world-view is very downbeat-dark and should have been a "noirist's" delight because it ended badly for everyone, including the peripheral characters -and when that happens, it's the film's philosophy and universe. Happiness here can only come at the expense of others: Therese's husband and his mother's happiness came at a cost to Therese and her shot at happiness was devastating to them. The war hero/blackmailer's dreams were extorted from both Therese and Laurent while Laurent's happiness was undercut by the one who made him happy. A truly ugly world ...and, honestly, why bother living in it? Unhappy fates are a given and not even the ruthless who care nothing for what it costs others can never attain what they really want -or if they do get it, its not for very long. All of this is great "noir" ...but what happened in it's filmic depiction? There's some great symbolism that show the care and effort Carne et al put into this: The black cat (Therese's luckless lot) was put outside while the lady entertained Laurent in her room (the only happiness she'd ever know) but old Mme. Raquin brought it right back to her door; Therese doted on the omen which signifies an embrace of her fate. Those weekly games of chance were a metaphor for life and contains a favorite noir theme concerning existence: "You can't win, you can't break even, you can't even quit the game". Here, if you do win, you've either cheated or are accused of it and, of course, it always comes at a price to someone else. I should have been depressed looking in on their world ...or angry ...or something as the end credits rolled -and that's just it -I wasn't moved at all. Could that have been what Carne intended all along? To be as deadened to the proceedings as Therese was to her life? There are a few suspenseful moments, a superb supporting cast, some beautiful Lyon scenery, a touch of homo eroticism, and train scenes reminiscent of LA BETE HUMAINE/HUMAN DESIRE, but a Zola-inspired tale doesn't guarantee deliciously dark entertainment and the film is neither recommended nor to be avoided.

Kino has used a pristine print for its DVD transfer and this weighs in its favor but the lack of extras doesn't.

Thérèse is no Tease.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 5 April 2015]

Thérèse Raquin (AKA: The Adultress) is directed by Marcel Carné and Carné co-adapts the screenplay with Charles Spaak from the Émile Zola novel. It stars Simone Signoret, Raf Vallone, Jacques Duby, Maria Pia Casilio and Roland Lesaffre. Music is by Maurice Thiriet and cinematography by Roger Hubert.

Carné reworks Zola's novel to be set in post-war Lyon and slips into a film noir gear. Plot essentially finds Signoret as Raquin, a severely repressed woman stuck in a marriage to her wimpy weasel of a cousin, not only that but she also has to share a home with his domineering mother. Then one day the strapping Laurent LeClaire (Vallone) enters her life, sparking a fiery affair, but as plans for the future are plotted, a turn of events drastically changes everything.

The characterisations are strongly performed, the five principals (Lesaffre arrives late in the play as a key character) giving performances that really draw you into their respective worlds, for better or worse as regards the human condition. Carné skillfully blends the beautiful side of Lyon, such as the quaint cobbled streets and the River Rhone, with a dull bleakness that fogs Thérèse, a woman who has forgotten how to smile, sexual fulfilment a non entity. Hubert also brings his photographic skills to the show, providing some blisteringly gorgeous night shots that offer hope for the new found lovers. But there is a sign post up ahead and it says that the next stop is noirville, and after having spent half the film building his characters, Carné dashes hope and replaces it with misery. Fate plays a big part in the crux aspects of the film, a film noir staple of course, right up to the clinical finale that comes with a thunderous fait accompli.

It's a bit draggy in parts as the director is at pains to show the humdrum side of life, but the change of gear at the mid-point - and the brilliant last quarter, make this a worthy addition for collectors of Frenchie noir. 8/10

between naturalistic and noir thriller

[dromasca · 7/10 · 10 February 2022]

'Thérèse Raquin' (1953) (English title - 'The Adultress') is Marcel Carné's third post-Prévert film. Connoisseur film fans consider it his latest remarkable film. It was produced by the famous Hakim brothers. Even though Jacques Prévert no longer wrote his screenplays and dialogues, Marcel Carné did not give up good literature for this film, and took as inspiration the novel 'Thérèse Raquin', Émile Zola's first great success, a story about passion, crime and punishment in France in the second half of the 19th century. From Zola's (suspenseful in my opinion) story of guilty love and remorse, this adaptation turns into a thriller with elements of film noir. Still suspenseful, of course, but in a completely different genre. It's not a bad movie, but it's a different movie, different from Zola and different from other Marcel Carné movies.

We learn about Therese's fate from dialogues, quite late in the film. The story begins when she is already unhappily married to her cousin Camille, a hypochondriac feeble man caressed by her mother (played by an exceptionally well-composed actress named Sylvie), who terrorizes his young wife. Frustrated from all points of view, Therese seeks refuge in a love affair with a trucker dressed in a leather jacket played by Raf Vallone. The passion of the two inevitably leads to murder, and the murder leads to complications when they are blackmailed by an unexpected witness. It can be said that the film is built of two distinct parts separated by the crime itself committed on the train (here we are dealing again with a change of place, in the novel the deed takes place on water): in the first we witness the suffocating atmosphere in the house the bourgeois family, which builds the premises of the violent act and in the second we follow the consequences of the act filmed in thriller style.

The production is uneven, but it has some beautiful cinematic moments. Simone Signoret is gorgeous both physically and as an actress. Most of us know her from her mature roles and after that - here she is young and fascinating, with eyes whose deep blue we 'see' even though it is a black and white film. The scene of the confrontation with the tyrannical mother-in-law, played only by eyesights (her mother-in-law was paralyzed) is intense and memorable. Raf Vallone, however, is not, in my opinion, up to his partner. The psychological shortcuts of the plot are not sufficiently offset by the elements of suspense in the second part of the film. Paradoxically, Marcel Carné seems more at ease when filming outside, on the streets of post-war Lyon or on the banks of the Rhône. The director, who was to be pushed aside by the younger newcomers of Nouvelle Vague and included in the category of 'cinema du papa', shows that he mastered a few years before them mobility of the camera, framing of the characters on the streets or in nature and direct sound recording. 'Thérèse Raquin' is an interesting film that deserves to be watched or re-watched as a cinematic document, for Simone Signoret, and as a more than acceptable thriller noir. Less, perhaps, for Zola's novel that inspired it.

Thérèse Raquin

[Hitchcockyan · 8/10 · 12 March 2017]

A riveting modernization of the eponymous Emile Zola novel, THÉRÈSE RAQUIN chronicles the adulterous infatuation between a burly truck-driver and the beautiful, badgered wife of his feeble colleague that results in murder, blackmail and psychological-damnation. Marcel Carné deftly taps into the mechanics of American film-noir of the 1940s with conspicuous blending of plots of two celebrated James M. Cain classics: "DOUBLE INDEMNITY" & "THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE" and skilfully harmonizes it with the drab and monotonous lifestyle of the French bourgeoisie. There are subtle nods to Hitchcock's "BLACKMAIL" and uncanny parallels with Park Chan-Wook's "THIRST" (which in retrospect make perfect sense as Park also borrowed significantly from the Zola novel.)

Simone Signoret is phenomenal as the titular lead and her transformation from a browbeaten wife trapped in a loveless marriage to a sympathetic femme-fatale is adroitly handled. Her restrained turn might seem too stoic at first but she exudes volumes through her apathetic veneer. Raf Vallone (reminiscent of a brooding Burt Lancaster) is convincing as the impulsive truck driver who's determined on unshackling Thérèse from her oppressive, wretched existence. Roland Lesaffre's addition as the greasy, opportunistic sailor further strengthens the elements of suspense in the story. The naturalistic B+W photography is excellent and maintains a healthy balance between carefully choreographed claustrophobic scenarios and exquisite exterior compositions.

Thérèse Raquin represents French film-making of the old school where storytelling was paramount and is recommended to connoisseurs of classic film-noir

Pallid Stuff

[bensonj · 22 August 2004]

Despite the considerable talent involved, this tale of passion and murder is pallid stuff. It's filled with bald plot-twists, ending with the ultimate of deux ex machinas, a huge truck careening down a small street for no reason except to kill off a major character, thus creating the pat ironic ending. Every plot twist is unconvincing, from the idea that Vallone and Duby would hit it off in any context, or that the couple would plan to leave a day or so after they told her husband about their affair rather than immediately, to the mother conveniently having a totally paralysing stroke at just the right moment. I guess one can blame Zola for some of this, but this updated version adds nothing.

Expected better

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 5 July 2009]

Therese (Simone Signoret) is unhappily married to Camille (Jacques Duby) and lives with him and his mother Madame Raquin (Sylvie) who is also her aunt. Basically, she's married to her cousin ....in the tradition of all royal families.....Anyway, the mother is over-protective of her son and critical of Therese while Camille is a spoilt brat who is rather feeble in both character and health yet tries to maintain a bullying stand with his wife. A good example of "small man syndrome". Not surprisingly, Therese is not happy with her lot. She meets Laurent (Raf Vallone) and they fall in love. Laurent wants her to leave with him immediately and confesses to their affair to Camille. Camille's solution is to take Therese away for a break where he intends to lock her up so that no-one can get to her. They get on a train for the journey but Laurent has other ideas. A passenger on the train, Michaud (Marcel Andre) also has other ideas........Do the lovers get away?

The film is slow moving so there are moments when you think "come on lets develop this story a bit quicker!" The acting is good from the main players and Marcel Andre has a definite Robert Mitchum look to him, if slightly camp. The ending is a mess that doesn't work itself out clearly. You will need to make assumptions as to what is probably going to be the outcome. I suspect that this was not the intention as we are offered the twist at the end. However, it doesn't work because of the circumstances.

Its alright but I thought it was going to be a better film than it was.

an invented Thérèse Raquin

[esteban1747 · 5/10 · 26 November 2002]

If someone wants to see this film, I advise better to read the book of Emile Zola first then to see the film, and you will agree with me that Marcel Carné did nothing else than changing the real story of the book written by Zola. Simone Signoret is a Thérèse sometime shy, sometime aggressive as she really was in the book, Vallone had better performance as Laurent, but not very much convincingly. The end of the plot is not the one shown in the film. It is strange to see a distorted French story in a French-made film, but this is the case. Hopefully Zola did not see it.

Overall disappointing

[nagan2020 · 6/10 · 1 June 2021]

I couldn't feel sympathy for any of the characters in the film especially Therese who never makes up her mind. I also didn't care for the ending, which is rather cliched and predictable. The film was overall disappointing but the young Simone Signoret was beautiful and reminded me of Romy Schneider.

Similar to "The Postman Always Rings Twice" but better.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 4 November 2013]

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!

He should have had more faith in the original

[andysbar · 6/10 · 14 January 2024]

What was the point? First saw this a few years ago and enjoyed it.having recently read the novel I decided to rewatch it .and was seriously disappointed vellone and sylvie are terrific but miss signoret is badly miscast she is just too worldly for the role.also why the update.and the major plot changes.a planed murder becomes a spur of the moment one.and I take it the invention of a blackmailer is ment to be a physical representation of their guilt.and why change the ending.what is almost a suicide pact.becomes a just a twist in the tail ending.as good as mr carne is.he should have had more faith in the original.

The middle part of this film resonates the work of writers like Poe and Dostojevski

[frankde-jong · 8/10 · 18 March 2021]

Marcel Carné is mostly known for the films he made before the Second World War (such as "Le quai des brumes" (1938) and "Le jour se leve" (1939)), but also in 1953 he is still able to make an excellent film noir (for a change from the country that invented the name of this genre).

The somewhat forgotten Roger Hubert is responsible for the beautiful black and white photography and Simone Signoret plays the femme fatale. I always remember Signoret the way she looked in her later years, her appearance thoroughly neglected, and every time I see a movie from her early days I am amazed how beautiful she ones was.

The film begins rather weak. A young woman is married to a man that is silly in a caricatural way but does have a very attractive friend. There are more subtle ways to indicate that the film will be about adultery.

Over time however the film goes stronger and stronger. The surprising ending nearly equals that of "Diabolique" (1955, Henri Georges Clouzot), also with Simone Signoret. What was most interesting to me however was the middle part, the confrontation between the woman and the mother in law afer the dead of the husband. In reality these confrontations are confrontations of the woman with her own conscience. This part of the film resonates the work of writers as Poe and Dostojevski.

To conclude, something for the real filmbuffs. Maria Pia Casilio plays a tiny part as chambermaid in a hotel. From the first second I saw her I thought "I know that girl, she plays Maria in "Umberto D" (1952, Vittorio de Sica)". A little investigation proved that I was right, so I can count myself as a filmbuff.

Triangle ends in death and blackmail

[filmalamosa · 8/10 · 11 November 2012]

A woman (Therese) brought up by an aunt and more or less forced to marry her whiny sickly pasty fleshed cousin (Camille) has resigned herself to a dull gray loveless life working in a small fabric shop owned by her mother in law. Through accident she meets Laurent who makes a play for her and becomes her lover.

This love affair intensifies and Laurent pressures Therese to leave Camille...there is a confrontation between the members of this triangle on a train and Camille is accidentally killed when an enraged Laurent pushes him off the train in a scuffle.

His death is ruled accidental and all would seem to be OK until a witness shows up to blackmail the couple.

The movie presents the essential theme of the original Zola novel. In the book the lovers grow to hate each other as they wait for things to cool down after Camille's death (they drown him) and there is much more twisted psychological drama between them and the mother in law.

However this is a tight nice story in this form and the movie has 3 attractive good actors and is suspenseful fun entertainment.

RECOMMEND

Portrait of an arranged marriage

[kijii · 8/10 · 23 November 2016]

Though I read Émile Zola's novel more than 30 years ago, I remember Thérèse as a more brutal character than presented here. Zola, like his naturalistic literary contemporaries, Jack London, Stephen Crane, and Frank Norris (from which Greed was derived), saw man as a brute guided by naturalistic (social or environmental) forces beyond their power or control. Maybe the films of the early 50s had to tame their characters a bit to comport with the mores of the time. Nevertheless, this film covers most of the elements of the novel and relayed them in a contemporary setting.

Thérèse (Simone Signoret) lives in Lyon and is married to her whimpering and sickly cousin, Camille (Jacques Duby). Their marriage was arranged by her aunt (Camille's strong-willed mother), Madame Raquin (Sylvie), after Thérèse's parents had died and there was nowhere else for her to turn. Thérèse is treated like a servant and waits on Camille and his mother hand and foot, both in their little notions shop (as a sales clerk) and in their home, above the shop. While Camille orders her about, it is clear that Madame Raquin is the power behind everything in her son's life.

Stuck in this sham marriage, Thérèse's life is dull and routine until one day, when her drunk husband is brought home by an affable (foreign) truck driver, Laurent (Raf Vallone). Laurent soon becomes one of the family friends, and he and Thérèse fall in love. When Camille discovers this, he threatens Laurent, then Thérèse, then both together. But, he is so weak-willed that he is unable to stand up to them. Camille's next attempt to keep Thérèse is to take her on a trip to Paris. But, when Laurent appears on the same train, after being tipped off by Thérèse, Camille is thrown from the rapidly moving train while he quarrels with Laurent.

With no witnesses to prove that they were together, the two lovers decide to split up for awhile until Camille's 'accidental death' blows over. What they don't anticipate is that a sailor sleeping in their compartment had witnessed them together and that he, Michaud (Marcel André), would later blackmail them.

Interestingly, when Thérèse's mother-in-law-from-hell hears of her son's death, she instantly suffers a stroke that leaves her at Thérèse's mercy. Unable to move or communicate, Madame Raquin can now be scolded by Thérèse without any talk back. Also, she has to look on as Thérèse and Laurent plan how to deal with their blackmailer.

Actually, the best part of his so-so Zola adaptation is the interactions between the two lovers and their clever blackmailer. The film is worth seeing, if only for its bizarre and twisted ending. In spite of the other reviews that I have read of this film, I DON'T believe that the ending is conventional nor is it wrapped up the way a traditionalist would think it would be..

Emile ZOLA Classic with Simone SIGNORET and Raf VALLONE

[ZeddaZogenau · 9/10 · 13 January 2024]

Marcel Carne's timeless adultery classic is a wonderful film adaptation of Emile Zola's novel of the same name.

The later ACADEMY AWARD winner Simone Signoret (The Way Up) and Raf Vallone impress as a passionate couple who are willing to do anything for their happiness together. But it is the figure of the daring sailor Riton (Roland Lesaffre) who brings the story from the 19th century into the immediate post-war period. Disillusioned and mentally deformed by his experiences during the Second World War, it is the mysterious young man, who is a vicious blackmailer but at the same time is also looking for human connection with two outcasts, who brings the events to the time of the early 1950s.

Master director Marcel Carne (EUROPEAN FILM AWARD (h.c.)) practically tailored this role to his favorite actor Roland Lesaffre (1927-2009). Further appearances in Carne's films were to follow, most impressively alongside Jean Gabin and Arletty in "The Air of Paris".

Even after almost 70 years, "Therese Raquin" appears to be an almost flawless classic.

A masterpiece worth seeing!