kenichiku I've been watching & thoroughly enjoying Isabelle Huppert's films since 'The Lacemaker'. This time, what struck me was the intensity of Huppert's next-to-passive, almost casually indifferent postures of contempt for her husband. It is because of her being so minimal and apathetic that her performance harnesses its power and devastation. And this is what enhances Greggory's reactive performance as being so complementary, that of a once smug now tortured soul who slips and struggles to re-grasp a heart turned cold. He's just left grabbing air in the end. The looks on the faces of the chorus, their social clique & the servants in the troubled Hervey household says it all.Going in, I was reminded of another story of martial discord, David Hughes Jone's 'Betrayal' but 'Gabrielle' hit me as being more incisive and oppressive than anything I've seen adapted for Pinter. I don't need to state the obvious that parlor films of this variety appeal only to those with an acquired taste. As for me, I can only say that I prefer the ice cubes that go with my scotch jagged & stinging cold like the ingredients in this film.

buzzbruin Do not waste your time seeing this horrible movie--I hated the actors the photography the servants the leads EVERYBODY.. The opening sequence was the worst in the history of sub-titles--talk, talk, talk--so much talk you coudnt follow the subtitles! I prayed that the husband would JUST STOP TALKING! I got it- she hated him as much as I did. The idea that this couple would have any kind of meaningful relationship was not possible. I hated the 3 maids and the scenes of their duties. Yeah I get it--in the 19th century women had no legal rights--a key explanation for some of the m Ivie's. There was absolutely no explanation or character development of their 'FRIENDS" One of my rules for any form of drama is to CARE about the people involved--these people should have been taken before a French firing squad asap! The (writing) was non-existent--the only information given was everybody hated everybody. The music was the MOST Inapropriate ever seen in the history of film, unrelated to anything in the plot. This is the most shallow movie in the history of drama--if widely released it would set French films back for 2 decades. The lead actors only talent was to be a boring pompous ass--thus I hated him as much as the role he played. The female lead was LOST--no emotional life--AND not ONE MOMENT OR WORD OF HUMOUR

jotix100 Jean Harvey, the wealthy owner of a Parisian newspaper, lives in splendor. He entertains lavishly, although as he points out in the narration during the opening scenes, his dinners are perhaps not as elaborate as those of the other wealthy people in their circle. We watch him as the story opens walking proudly throughout the streets of a smart quarter of the city thinking aloud for our benefit as a way of introduction.The next time we see Jean is at one of his Thursday dinners in which a group of friends gather around his table to eat, talk and do what people in his circle do. It's at this moment that are introduced to Gabrielle, his lovely wife, an attractive woman who can hold her own at her parties because she commands attention from her friends whenever she speaks.For all appearances, the Harveys are a happily married couple without a care in the world. Little prepares us for what awaits Jean Harvey as he goes home one day. Jean has told us how he and Gabrielle occupy just one room with twin beds, as they don't believe in separate accommodations. As he enters the bedroom, he sees an envelope addressed to him. Imagine his surprise as he opens it and finds out Gabrielle has left him for another man! Jean goes into a rage, perhaps because he had no hint of anything wrong with Gabrielle, who obviously, must have been planning leaving him for quite some time. In his state, he trashes a glass decanter and he cuts himself. Nothing seems to calm him from his state until, unexpectedly, we see a feminine figure clad in black ascending the stairs toward the bedroom. As the door opens, one can only see the blue gloves the woman is wearing. It's apparent Gabrielle has returned.It's at this moment when the real fight begins between Jean and Gabrielle. The biggest shock for Jean is to know the name of the man who has charmed his wife into leaving him. Gabrielle feels she has made a horrible mistake, but she doesn't mince words in telling Jean what motivated her into going away. Jean is a cold man who never really understood his wife, as it seems always the case. To make matters worse, being a worldly man, he is more interested in what the friends in his circle will think about him, as it's obvious the servants will talk about them.Patrice Chereau has created a film that surprises at first, and then, when all is said and done, makes us feel we've been had for the way the Harveys decide to settle their differences. Jean will never forgive Gabrielle, although at the end, one gets a hint that Gabrielle is willing to give Jean a part of herself she has kept away from him all along.The film, based on a Joseph Conrad short story, "The Return", which we haven't read, gets a great staging by the director, who also co-wrote the screen play with Anne-Louise Thivudic. Mr. Chereau combines black and white photography in the early part of the film with color as the story develops. This is a film that makes us think about how some marriages, that appear to be happy, in reality are not so, as proved by the Harveys. Even though they are rich, have a great mansion, live comfortably, entertain friends, yet love eludes them, so Gabrielle has to go outside to feel wanted and needed.The film consists of basically two characters, Jean and Gabrielle. Pascal Greggory and Isabelle Huppert are magnificent in the way they bring these two characters to life. Both actors give performances of such depth, we are stunned by their range and how they interact with one another through the movie.The film is helped by the wonderful cinematography of Eric Gautier who works with the dark colors in the film that compliment the mood of the couple at the center of the action. Also, the background music by Favio Bacchi plays well in the context of the film. Patrice Chereau has directed with his usual panache, and although he sometimes succeeds, we feel this couple should have never gotten married in the first place.

Biff Tread Don't get me wrong, I'm as much of a film snob as anyone out there...but if you want to see a French film in which two characters spend the entire time arguing about a relationship, I strongly recommend skipping this tedious and basically shallow flick and watching instead Hiroshima Mon Amour or Last Year at Marienbad (both directed by Alain Resnais).Gabrielle is a strange film...the loud, tense music, the effects of lighting, the experimental flashing of words on the screen...all are wasted, in my opinion, on the more or less trite and endlessly circular argument the two characters carry out throughout the film. The music, especially, often seems to bear no relationship at all or an extremely overblown one to the scene it is involved with.A lot of the reviews you will read here say you should think of this film as more of an opera or a play...but this is a FILM...and the story needs to be suited to that medium. It ISN'T!!!