Therese, aka Thérèse Desqueyroux, is a 2012 French film, the last to be directed by Claude Miller before his passing. It is a loose adaptation of François Mauriac's novel Thérèse Desqueyroux.
Therese (Audrey Tautou) is a provincial woman in the 1920s who is the heir to a large tract of forest land. She marries Bernard Desqueyroux, despite not loving him or even particularly liking him, because his family owns the adjoining tract of forest land, and she is supposed to. Therese, who has some unconventional ideas for 1920s France (she's an atheist, for starters), starts to chafe under the restrictive life of a housewife. When her sister-in-law and best friend Anne engages in a whirlwind romance with another neighbor, Therese, who has no passion in her own life, is jealous. Finally, she makes a fateful choice.
Tropes:
- Arranged Marriage: Most decidedly not a Happily Arranged Marriage, as Therese's frustration and ennui after she's married causes her to commit a crime.
- Bad Bedroom, Bad Life: Towards the end, after the family found out what she did, Therese is confined to a bedroom for a while. She starts to become more unglued, losing weight and no longer bathing while littering the room with stubbed-out cigarettes and other waste. The maid finds three cigarette holes in Therese's bedsheet.
- Distant Prologue: The film opens with a scene showing Therese and Anne as teenagers in 1922, already talking about how she's been promised to Bernard. Then the main story takes place 1928-30.
- Face Framed in Shadow: Therese's face is dramatically lit only on one side by a bedroom fire as she asks Bernard to forgive her. It's an Imagine Spot.
- Foreshadowing: Bernard's heart medication, which he is shown on multiple occasions taking by adding exactly four drops to a glass of water. Therese eventually tries to poison him by adding a lot more drops.
- Imagine Spot
- The fires in the forests that their family owns lead Therese to imagine starting fires of her own.
- Late in the film there's a scene where Therese and Bernard are in bed together, and she asks him to forgive her, and he does, only to brutally reject her moments later. It's an Imagine Spot she's having as she goes back home on the train.
- It Will Never Catch On: The family mentions Aristide Briand becoming prime minister yet again, and Therese's father confidently states that Briand will make peace with Germany.
- Revealing Hug: The empty-eyed stare that Therese has on her face while Bernard humps away on top of her demonstrates how little she's interested in him or their marriage.
- Small Town Boredom: Clearly a part of the reason for Therese coming unraveled is the boredom of life in a country estate. At the end when Bernard says she can move to Paris, she lights up at the prospect.
- A Storm Is Coming: A storm that rolls through right before Therese gets married is symbolic of how her life will be disturbed.
- Voiceover Letter:
- The film is narrated by Therese via a letter to Anne, one she apparently never intends to send.
- There's also a voiceover letter from Anne to Therese when Anne tells about how she's entered into a forbidden romance with Jean.
