The Story of Adèle H.

CinemaSerf 10/30/2026 4:57:54PM 8.4

There is something really quite tragic about Isabelle Adjani's title role here, and that's largely down to her skills as an actor in crafting a role for whom it easy to feel both pity for and anger at almost at the same time. She has come to Halifax in Nova Scotia to find her promised. "Miss Lewly" (aka Adèle Hugo) is determined to track down her British soldier-love Lieutenant Pinson (Bruce Robinson) but fairly swiftly she discovers that his sentiments are nowhere near as strong as her's. He's a bit of a Lothario and declares to her that it really is in her own best interests that she abandons him and that he can see no future in any relationship with her so isn't prepared to engage any further. Now she is the daughter of the famed French writer Victor Hugo and so funds are available, for a while, for her to stay locally and pursue her suit, but the more she presses the more he resists and the more desperate she becomes. Her grip on reality starts to blur and her need to secure his love becomes so compelling that she finds herself with few boundaries - if she cannot have him willingly then trapping him will do just as well, and as the old saying goes - "this way madness lies". Meantime, she is blissfully unaware that the kindly local bookshop owner "Whistler" (Joseph Blatchey) has taken quite a shine to her, but with her focus so toxically fixed on Pinson is there any chance of salvation for anyone - especially as he is to be posted elsewhere and her now Guernsey-based refugee father is becoming less interested in funding her residency? Robinson delivers quite potently here as utterly selfish object of her desires but this is first and foremost a stylish period drama showcasing an Adjani who crafts a persona that is almost desperate and certainly pitiable to watch. It's based on letters the real daughter left and I felt that François Truffaut adapted them for the screen in a sympathetic and touching fashion that coupled with some solid supporting efforts and Maurice Jaubert's score delivered something that's actually surprisingly tough to watch. It's a slow burn, but that pacing works well here as it presents us with a sadly grim story of unrequited love.