Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Story of Adèle H. Blu-ray Movie Review

The English Lieutenant's Woman.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 30, 2015

It’s always seemed just a little bit odd to me that Ayn Rand should have posited Victor Hugo as one of her favorite authors, and furthermore to have listed Les Misérables in her “good reads” category. After all, could there be any two more different sensibilities than Hugo’s championing of the common man and Rand’s emphasis on a certain kind of exceptionalism? Is there any more manifest difference than Les Misérables’ emphasis on a cruel, unjust fate awaiting one of the downtrodden and any number of books by Rand which often seem to read as credos to that vaunted one percent? As different as Hugo and Rand’s artistic ambiences seem to be (at least on their faces), there’s a tangential but interesting connection between Hugo’s real life and Rand’s penchant for florid romances in (many of) her books. Hugo’s daughter Adèle, a woman who was probably mentally ill, developed an obsessive attraction toward a hapless British lieutenant named Pinson, following the poor guy hither and yon despite the fact that he seems at the very least befuddled by her attentions. This may not rise to the overheated levels of, say, Dominique Francon and Howard Roark in The Fountainhead or Dagny Taggart and John Galt in Atlas Shrugged, but it still provides imaginative fodder that perhaps Rand, certainly no slouch when it came to history, may have stumbled across Adèle’s sad story when she was devouring Jean Valjean’s equally sad tale. The Story of Adèle H. is kind of an interesting film for the legendary François Truffaut, one which merges his historical interests (as evidenced by films such as The 400 Blows and The Wild Child) with a somewhat more traditional and Romantic (capital R) sensibility that is at least slightly different from the envelope pushing Nouvelle vague, if also somewhat cool and detached, approach, which helped to establish the auteur's (a term Truffaut helped to popularize) international reputation. Isabelle Adjani really burst into international prominence in the title role of this film, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress which at the time made her the youngest ever nominee in that particular category.

While the film is obviously based on real life incidents, a larger historical context is also at play, including a sideline to America’s Civil War that even some armchair historians may not be overly familiar with. Though foreign powers hadn’t officially joined the fray subsuming the (not so) United States, there was a large contingent of British soldiers garrisoned in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the 1860s, perhaps as a cautionary matter should those erstwhile colonies completely tip over the edge into chaos. It’s in this rather unlikely locale that Adèle arrives, traveling under the false surname Lewly, for reasons which are initially a little unclear. Soon enough it becomes evident that Adèle is on the hunt for a British lieutenant named Albert Pinson (Bruce Robinson), a man with whom she evidently once had a relationship (or at least she thinks so) and whom she wishes to now marry.

Obsessive love can often be a riveting subject for a film (Fatal Attraction, to cite just one completely over the top example), but here Truffaut takes a somewhat more measured and sometimes even static approach that requires a bit of patience. Once the general premise is established, the film basically employs an anecdotal, vignette strewn scenario where Adèle more or less stalks the hapless Pinson, immune to the man’s denunciations and denials that they have any sort of future together. Adèle is obviously completely ensnared by her own delusions, writing home to her famous father how her romance is proceeding, and even getting to the point of claiming she’s actually married to Pinson, something that leads to semi-disastrous consequences for both Adèle and Pinson himself. The screenplay (by Truffaut, Jean Gruault, Suzanne Schiffman and Frances Vernor Guille) isn’t really interested in exploring any proximate causes for Adèle’s psychological pathology, presenting it instead as something of a fait accompli and then simply letting events unfold as a result of the character’s all encompassing delusions.

Interestingly, this is not some more traditional depiction of an overwhelmed woman alone, for Adèle actually has a small community who, while initially unaware of her famous lineage, still seek to help her as much as they can. But what’s striking is Truffaut’s almost dispassionate handling of a very passionate character. Adèle’s voiceovers as she writes letters or in her journal display an obviously deluded sanguinity, but then there’s Adèle running amok on the streets or fantasizing she can hypnotize Pinson into marrying her. Adèle, while engaging in manic behaviors some of the time (as evidenced by her forays into the cold streets), still offers a counterweight depressive demeanor at times where, for example, she'll be overcome with tears.

Still, this is a quite reserved portrayal of madness, one which couches Adèle’s “issues” in a generally non-theatrical way (something that puts it at odds with other more florid depictions of mental illness in films like The Snake Pit or Frances). There’s ultimately a repetitive flavor to the film which may in fact only reinforce the feeling of Adèle’s obsessive compulsive tendencies. A wash of melancholy pervades the film, as a tragedy seems to unfold almost in slow motion.

The Story of Adèle H. Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Story of Adèle H. is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67. Truffaut and legendary cinematographer Nestor Almendros work in a fairly subdued, tamped down palette here, one which exploits lots of slate grays and deeply burnished browns, while offering occasional pops like a red dress Adèle wears. The palette looks generally accurate here, though occasionally perhaps slightly on the pinkish-brown side. Several long scenes take place in dimly lit environments, and while shadow detail isn't really exceptional, there's appealing depth to the imagery, with a good, consistent looking grain structure. Close-ups offer nice fine detail in some of the sumptuous costumes and finely appointed furniture. There are no issues with image instability and the elements are in generally excellent condition.

The Story of Adèle H. Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Story of Adèle H. features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix which capably supports the film's dialogue (in both French and English, with forced yellow English subtitles during the French sequences). While somewhat narrow sounding, dialogue, score and ambient environmental effects are rendered with very good fidelity and no problems whatsoever.

Note: There are also optional (white) English SDH subtitles for the English language sections of the film.

The Story of Adèle H. Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:50)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:06)


• Audio Commentary features Twilight Time's Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman.

The Story of Adèle H. Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A cynical wag from my relative youth, and in fact one of the people who introduced me to Ayn Rand, used to joke about the "obvious" mental illness of characters like Dominique Francon, something which probably only further reinforces and cements the weird connection between Rand, Victor Hugo and The Story of Adèle H. in my mind. Truffaut is almost resolutely dispassionate in his depiction of Adèle's descent into madness (and she's frankly already pretty deeply in even at the film's start). That distance makes the emotional connection here a bit tentative at times, but Adjani is a commanding presence and the historical milieu is beautifully realized. Technical merits are generally very strong and The Story of Adèle H. comes Highly recommended.