Thérèse Desqueyroux (2013)

Rating: 3.5/5

I will start out by saying I didn't feel I was quite the right person to talk properly about Thérèse Desqueyroux, because I felt there was some underlying ignorance on my part. Whether I needed better knowledge of French drama and history, or just of the novel that preceded this movie, I felt uninformed. But I could certainly appreciate the beauty, grace and style with which it was made, and was allowed to be moderately entertained by.

The movie opens with two young girls, Thérèse and Anne, who are best friends, and both in some way assured that the former will one day marry the latter's older brother Bernard Desqueyroux. He inherits vast acres of pine trees and massive fortune, but when of course he does marry Thérèse (Audrey Tautou), his mother is insulted by her daughter-in-law being richer than her. Her wealth, and therefore her very presence, is a mockery to the Desqueyroux family.

Thérèse is no humble housewife or oppressed little lady. She, as cinema often portrays women of the era being, suffers the affliction of thinking. Her husband is at first fondly amused by her independence and self-containment. To him it is some meaningless feminine frivolity. All he expects of her is to bear him children, and when she does, the cigar-distributing, 'continuing the bloodlines' ego comes into play; Bernard forgets about his wife, and she feels betrayed.

And she continues "having these thoughts," which become an ultimate danger to her husband. But not really as dramatically as the trailer suggests. Characters keep going on about Thérèse's "thoughts," but we are never enlightened as to what thoughts these are. And we want to know. This is our heroine, our protagonist. We want a movie about her to let us know what's going on in her life and in her head. We only seem to get her life, despite what's in her head being a common topic of conversation.

Audrey Tautou is as lovely as ever, with a genuine feeling of coldness and inner disturbance. It is hard to believe that those lifeless Desqueyroux eyes are the same that grinned wildly up at us from the cover of Amelie. She delivers a powerful performance with conviction, and is really the appeal of the film.

Sets are rich, sweeping, endless at times, but when appropriate feel enclosed. The film looks lovely, as every element comes together, between costumes, lighting, sets and players. It is visually very nice, and a decent example of some of the wonderful world cinema that few bother to take in.