Dir. Patrice Chereau, , Germany/France/Italy, 2005, 90mins, subtitles
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory, Claudia Coli, Thierry Hancisse, Chantal Neuwirth
Review by Sian Thatcher
Set in early twentieth-century France’s opulent belle Èpoque, Gabrielle is the tale of a marriage that unravels and spins wildly out of control. Adapted from Joseph Conrad’s short story 'The Return', this film is beautiful and haunting.
It is directed by Patrice Chereau, a French filmmaker perhaps better known for Queen Margot and Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train. While Conrad narrates the story from the husband’s point of view, Chereau worked with screenwriter Anne-Louise Trividic, as he did before with Intimacy and His Brother to divide the story more equally between the husband and wife. This works well as we are given both of the protagonist’s perspective and feel that we have a deeper understanding of their relationship.
The story centres around a well-to-do couple, the lynchpins of their bourgeoisie clique, Gabrielle and Jean Harvey who seem to have a perfect relationship. They live in luxurious surroundings, have a fleet of maids and entertain their pick of society every Thursday, but this is all just a facade, hiding their loveless, empty marriage.
The opening sequence, mirroring the opening of Conrad’s book, depicts Jean returning from work a very self-satisfied man on his 10th wedding anniversary. He contemplates all his achievements, adopts an arrogant swagger and says he has ‘the stare of a man who has achieved a lot’. A vain man, he is so interested in possessions and how high he is held in others esteem that love doesn’t figure in his thoughts. This bubble of confidence is swiftly shattered when he arrives home to a note from his wife saying that she has left him to be with another man. She returns in the hope of retrieving the note before her husband reads it, but it is too late and things between them can never be the same again.
The close-up images of distraught faces, the emotionally-charged music, expressionistic visual style, desperation in the husband’s every utterance and cold manner of Gabrielle makes this a portrayal of a nightmare-ish world. Chereau fluidly moves back and forth in time using different colour schemes and occasionally uses subtitles to say what the characters fail to. It is an unrelenting gaze on something one shouldn’t really be allowed to view – the dreadful intricacies of a flawed relationship in meltdown.
Isabelle Huppert, venerated in Europe and the art house world, and winner of a Cesar Award, the French equivalent of the Oscars, is magnificent as Gabrielle. She is cold, clinical and unfathomable.
As Jean, Pascal Gregory is also incredible – he perfectly embodies this arrogant, vain, deluded man and rages with such desperation and passion, which juxtaposes well with the iciness that Huppert exudes.
With the combination of imaginative cinematographic techniques, masterful performances from the two leads and a powerful story, this is a must-see film.
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