Directed by François Truffaut
Written by Jean Gruault, François Truffaut and Suzanne Schiffman
Starring:
- Isabelle Adjani as Adèle Hugo
- Bruce Robinson as Lieutenant Albert Pinson
- Sylvia Marriott as Mrs. Saunders
- Joseph Blatchley as Mr. Whistler
Rating: 
A twisted, feverish romance: the doomed, obsessive passion of Victor Hugo’s daughter for a lazy, roving British lieutenant. Isabelle Adjani is possessed—her performance a voracious monster, devouring Adele piece by piece, spiraling into delirium. Truffaut’s steady, literary eye—long indulgent takes, sensual inserts, subtle camera glides—frames her performance without ever overpowering it. He respects the character’s fragile, erotomaniac psyche more than his own stylistic whims. The film’s fascination with dangerous obsession is palpable, yet Truffaut’s obsession with realism and biographical fidelity cramps the natural absurdity of Adele’s epistolary melodrama; the ending is austere, tragic, and almost proper. But Adjani obliterates restraint, and Almendros’ cinematography is heartbreakingly serene and beautiful. A quietly furious, exquisite tragedy: it is what it is.
