The_Film_Cricket Adjani plays Adele Hugo, the second daughter of author Victor Hugo. Devastated by the loss of her sister, the movie finds her living with her father in exile on the isle of Guernsey where she falls in love with one Lieutenant Pinson, a British Naval Officer who seduced her and whom her father has selected as a husband. She goes to Halifax to rekindle a romance with him only to find that Pinson wants nothing to do with her (marriage would mean he can't whore around) and makes it clear that there will never be any chance of a life together. We've sensed from the very beginning that Adele is a little mad and that knowledge gives weight to what she does for the rest of the film.She is undeterred by his brush-off and begins writing bogus letters back home the she and Pinson are in the throws of a love affair and later she writes of their marriage. Meanwhile she keeps pursuing him, peeping at him while he is having sex, she arranges prostitutes, slips letters into his pockets and sends him money. He is unmoved but she is remains determined even at one point stuffing a pillow under her dress and telling Pinson's father that she is pregnant with his child.She becomes further and further detached from her own sanity until her pride, her dignity and her consciousness of the surrounding world are virtually gone. Terribly ill she sleeps in flophouses but never gives up on Pinson even though it is clear that he is a rat and isn't worth her time. Adjani is the right actress for this material because her breathtaking beauty leaves us thinking that this is a woman who could level any man with her eyes and yet her madness leaves her to pursue a man who wouldn't know a good woman if she fell on him. To look at Adele is to understand the commonality of all of Truffaut's characters who are not led by plot but are urged on by their personalities, their obsessions and their emotions. He loves long close-ups of her beautiful face and there is a sense of her tunnel vision.What we see in that beautiful face is that there is a battle going on inside. There are two sides of Adele, one in reality and one in her writing that are battling for control over her mind. In her writings, the world is a happy, joyous place and as she descends ever further into her madness it consumes her soul. This makes her sound like just a stubborn girl who clings to an uninterested lover, but the screenplay is much smarter than that. Adele is unstable from the beginning (though it is not very apparent) and Pinson rejection fuels her madness and consumes her for the rest of her life.Truffaut isn't interested in pushing Adele into a simple-minded role as a sympathetic waif, his characters were always more complex than that. Adele isn't molded to our affections but we pay witness to an irrational woman trapped between an unloving father and an unloving man whom her madness won't leave behind. The collaboration of Truffaut and Adjani was brilliant, they present the portrait of soul trapped by obsession but refuse to give her any ray of sunshine. The closest thing is in the end in which she wanders the streets wearing rags in a catatonic state and she doesn't recognize Pinson when she passes him on the street. Maybe, for her, this is best.

bobsgrock Francois Truffaut's historical tale about Victor Hugo's daughter Adele and her obsessive quest for the English soldier she loved is bittersweet and heartfelt at the same time. It takes the true talent and caliber of a director like Truffaut to make a character such as Adele Hugo into a person that ends up being more sympathetic than deplorable. Still, Truffaut does not shy away from the elements that make up her descent into madness and deep sorrow, showing the ways in which she will go to extreme lengths to get what she wants. There is a burning desire in this woman that is both disturbing and admirable at the same time.Isabelle Adjani won much acclaim for her work as Adele and it was well- deserved. At a mere 19, Adjani showed incredible poise as a young actress, capable of carrying virtually the entire picture mostly with her eyes, which are a deep blue and give her face a hauntingly beautiful quality. There is the constant feeling about Adele that she, being the daughter of the famous French poet Victor Hugo, is simply a spoiled rich girl using her father's money to try and buy a husband. Yet, Truffaut does not see it that way. Rather, he views Adele as a tortured soul who had enough passion and love for both herself and the man of her dreams only to receive indifference and cold incredulity. It is a sad film but at the same time a film of remarkable human courage and persistence. Many would question Adele's motivations for doing the things she does, which seem to be purely selfish, but no one can question the heart and passion with which she does it.

jlwalker19-1 I don't know how historically accurate this film is. However, it is a very powerful performance by Isabelle Adjani. In this movie she is simply one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.She plays the tormented daughter of Victor Hugo. She follows her love to Newfoundland, as he has been transferred there by his country's military authorities. He has broken off the engagement. However she pursues him relentlessly.Very few films can match this one in the portrayal of obsessive love. The scenery is very beautiful and the acting performances very convincing.I've heard this has been deemed a kind of cult film, for a certain following. I would think it would have broader appeal. It speaks to the hearts of millions of people who have become obsessive in their love for another person who does not return the feeling. A kind of ultimate unrequited love.I could watch this movie anytime, over and over.

chconnol Well made and competent, Truffaut's "Adele H." is, at it's most basic level, the story of a stalker. That the stalker is the daughter of Victor Hugo simply adds to the morbid curiousity of it all.Adjani is pretty in a simple way which lends itself well to the story. As the British soldier who is the object of Adele's all consuming passion, Bruce Robinson is callow enough that it makes you wonder why she would follow him all over the "new world" for him.I especially like the mixing of both English and French especially in the scenes in Halifax, Nova Scotia. And the period details (like the soldier's uniforms) gives the film a very realistic feel without being overbearing.The ending is a bit of a let down because you kind of expect some kind of melodramatic ending considering all that Adele went through. To realize (SPOILER HERE) that she did go back to France and led an OK life until her death in 1915 is, despite the fact that it's true, anti-climatic. I think it would have been more satisfying to see how she was when she went back to France. Did she recover completely? Was she still somewhat obessessed? We simply get a quickie voiceover that feels like a cheat.