"The Story of Adele H." is true. François Truffaut, probably afraid of what would be a reaction of disbelief from the audience, insists about it right before the movie starts. Later, to those who wouldn't know, the name for which the H stood for is revealed, Adele H. is the daughter of the great poet and writer, Victor Hugo. And considering the author's prestige in France, any attempt of fictionalization for pure cinematic purposes, wouldn't have served the film. In other words, to tell such a harrowing story, it 'd better be true.
And 'harrowing' is an understatement, the film features the daughter of the iconic author in the town of Hallifax, Canada, looking for the Lieutenant Pinson. Pinson declared his love to her during a mission in Guernesey, the town that welcomed Hugo in exile during the reign of Napoleon III. But what Adele ignored is that the handsome Pinson, was a seducer and she was the love of his life as long as he lived in Guernesey. But you can't conquer the heart of the most romantic French author's daughter without consequences. The story of Adele H. Is the disturbing, but true, chronicles of these consequences : disguised as stalking, simply one of the most romantically driven descents into madness that ever graced the screen.
Still, for a period film that could have inspired a more epic direction, the atmosphere strikes by its simplicity. All in dark, brown or gray, no music or pieces of action, and everything contributes to quite an austere mood. If I wanted to be more critical, I would have compared the film to some TV movies that try to overcome their limited budgets, I could even mention some savorless acting based on a monotonic tone or one-dimensional characterization, but I guess, this doesn't really matter, and for two essential reasons. First, the movie is short enough to let the script go straightforward to its point, while it could have lasted two hours and half, if it dared to imitate the work of Bergman
to probably fail. On that level, the film is short, but efficient. The second, and not the least one, is the extraordinary performance of the precociously talented, Isabelle Adjani, proving again, that she's the most gifted and talented actress of her generation, and maybe more.
The movie's quality and merit rely in their entirety on Adjani's hypnotic performance, rightfully nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Adjani, as Adele H, perfectly conveys the alienation of a mind affected by such a desperate love that it undermines any rational consideration of her actions' incidences. She gave her heart, and the hell she will take it back. An impartial script intelligently handles the treatment of her personality during the first part, allowing us to adopt a very critical attitude toward Adele. She's a stalker; she's a mythomaniac and displays a very despicable selfish attitude when it comes to the name her actions inevitably tarnish. But while the script is impartial, the direction cleverly creates this intimacy between Adele and the viewer, so there's no need to care for the peripheral characters and so we can sympathize or at least understand the reasons of this torment and the apparently malicious motives it inspires, it's a remarkable merit on the field of intelligence.
"The Story of Adele H." is an engaging character study of envy and jealousy, which hesitates between two diagnoses: is it a pathological or a romantic case, or both? I think the answer relies on the presence of the third most important character, present through his undeniable aura, Victor Hugo. Hugo was one the most influential romantic French authors, and I think the common mistake is to associate romanticism with sentimentalism, while they are two philosophically separate things. Romantic describes this incapacity to be understood, this burning passion devouring the heart and while the others can only see what belongs to the real, the romantic poet sees through the future, like a guiding light, or feels it like a sixth sense. As opposite to realism, romanticism evokes the figure of the eternal adolescent with a poignant virginity that deprives him from the pervert effect of cynicism and dishonesty, and that strength and vigor governing his idealistic actions. Adele is overly romantic to the state of alienation, and in a way she's more a victim of Pinson than the opposite, and witnessing Pinson's cold reactions, we end up rooting for Adele on the longer term, and this is not the film's merit, this is its triumph.
Adele inherited her father's ideals, both haunted by the memory of Leopoldine, Adele's sister, who died from a drowning accident at the tragic age of nineteen right after her marriage. This episode is essential because it consolidated Adele's view on love, passion, duty, devotion and sacrifice like when Leopoldine's husband not tolerating to lose the love of his life, let himself drown to death with her: this was the meaning of love for Adele, for her father, who'd be forever devastated by this tragedy, so great, so dramatic, that even Pinson is too small to be ever associated with these passionate persons. And it's not surprising that Adele's mental state finally exceeded the limits of her stressful quest before she finally came back to France, to quietly die at 85, a silent and unnoticed death under the thundering canons of WWI.
And speaking of war, as I said in other reviews, maybe if the greatest war movies were about wars that were lost, maybe this applies to love stories too? Or can we really lose a love? Adele H. embodies the strong determination of a woman, capable to cross the sea in the name of love, and such a powerful and pure heart is just too mighty for Pinson or for anyone. And it's still better to lose the love of your life than your capability to love ...
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