Who is Therese Desqueyroux? This question remains open after watching the film made in 2012 by Claude Miller, a film bearing the name of the heroine (or simply ‘Therese‘ on the English market and in other countries where the heroine’s last name is difficult to pronounce, not to mention write). This is a film that in my opinion did not enjoy the deserved reception, neither from the public nor from the critics. Some of the objections I read are related to the fact that there is no clear explanation of the reasons that push the heroine of the film to extreme deeds and especially there is no moral or moralizing judgment of them. However, actually the character played by Audrey Tautou is consistent with the mystery surrounding the female characters that dominate Claude Miller‘s films and fits perfectly with the ambiguity of the woman imagined by Francois Mauriac in the novel of the same title, one of the best left behind by this writer who was very popular in the first half of the 20th century, a writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1952. There is also is another aspect that gives value and meaning to ‘Therese Desqueyroux‘. Much of the story in the film takes place under the sign of death. Claude Miller does not turn the plot, as he could have done, into a horror story, but death or its threat are almost always present. This was Miller’s last film. The director was ill with leukemia during its making. I don’t know if it should be called a testament film, but it is clear that death was a theme that had become personal and actual for the author.
The story takes place in the late 1920s and early 1930s in the properties of two wealthy families in the French countryside. Young Therese marries Bernard, the brother of her good friend Anne. It is a marriage of convenience, devoid of passion, but through which Therese hopes to ensure to herself the quiet and secure life for the realisation of some vague intellectual ambitions. In a short time, however, she finds herself suffocated by the lack of horizon of the life of a provincial woman, she does not find fulfilment in maternity either, and even Anne’s unhappy love story with a Jewish young man, terminated by her family, seems to be a luckier alternative. Can an assassination attempt be the way to liberation? Who can judge her? Justice? The family? Spectators?
The cinematography is exquisite, with several scenes of beautiful and expressive framing that remind some the landscapes of the Impressionists, other the interior paintings of the Flemish masters. The plot is built with attention to detail and psychological delicacy. The lead roles are interpreted by three actors that I like a lot, even if their casting in this film is not ideal. Audrey Tautou is exceptional, in a much darker role than others who have marked her career. (I hope that the rumours about her intentions to give up her acting career will prove to be untrie). Anaïs Demoustier is another very talented actress, but I found her role here less convincing, especially when it comes to erasing the age difference between the two women. Gilles Lellouche has a difficult role as the rude husband, but he creates a character that makes viewers avoid harsh judgments. ‘Therese Desqueyroux‘ is a feminist film in a discreet way, and the moral judgment, if any, is more of a social nature and related to the institution of the family whose stability and appearances becomes the purpose instead of a frame for life. As for understanding Therese’s character, I suggest you wait until the closing scene of the film.