Synopsis
An unhappily married woman struggles to break free from social pressures and her boring suburban setting.
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Cast
- Audrey TautouThérèse Desqueyroux
- Gilles LelloucheBernard Desqueyroux
- Anaïs DemoustierAnne
- Stanley WeberJean Azevedo
- Yves JacquesL'avocat de Thérèse Desqueyroux
- Francis PerrinMonsieur Larroque
- Isabelle SadoyanTante Clara
- Catherine ArditiMadame de la Trave
- Jérôme ThibaultDeguilhem
- Max MorelBalion
Recommendations
- 80
New York Daily News
Audrey Tautou trades in Amelie’s wide-eyed sprite look for le sourpuss in this sober yet fascinating take on aristocratic social mores between the wars. - 60
Time Out
Though bourgie audiences looking for a sun-warmed romance will be slapped; the movie may look pretty and may plod, but it also leaves a bruise. - 50
Slant Magazine
Claude Miller's swan song not only shares its main character's name but also her tempered disposition. - 50
The Playlist
[Thérèse] is not the nuanced period drama it should be but is rather more like a banal, pseudo-thoughtful and monotonous episode of Masterpiece Theater. - 50
Village Voice
If the banality of life within the Bordeaux gentry is the point, then the ensuing oppressiveness is immaculately depicted through precise performances and camerawork—just don't call it emotionally engaging drama. - 50
The A.V. Club
A second-act forest fire proves a handy metaphor for Tautou’s slowly burning rage at confinement. Yet while it seems thematically apt, it’s also wholly out of place in this static, emotionless saga, which is defined less by zealous feeling than by a dull, decorous air of respectability. - 50
The Dissolve
Mauriac’s portrait of a society obsessed with family honor and the appearance of propriety at all costs comes through strongly, but that can’t entirely compensate for a character study with a hard-working vacuum at its center. Like Keanu Reeves, Tautou requires a perfect fit; when she tries to stretch, she gets stranded. - 50
Los Angeles Times
Even given the character's extreme introspection and withdrawal, Tautou's performance is too often opaque.
