A work of stunning intensity underneath opulent fabrics
Gabrielle (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:53
Fresh:40
Rotten:13
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: Patrice Chéreau's exquisite rendering of Joseph Conrad's The Return brings underlying passions to surface in a long-suffering marriage.
Theatrical Release:Jul 14, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $89,667
Synopsis: GABRIELLE is Patrice Chéreau's stunning adaptation of the short story "The Return" by Joseph Conrad. Recreating turn-of-the-century France with superb attention to detail, Chéreau casts... GABRIELLE is Patrice Chéreau's stunning adaptation of the short story "The Return" by Joseph Conrad. Recreating turn-of-the-century France with superb attention to detail, Chéreau casts an unrelenting gaze on the marital breakdown that overwhelms a middle-aged bourgeois couple, played with chilling precision by Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory. Co-written by Chéreau and Anne-Louise Trividic, the film premiered at the 2005 Venice Film Festival and has since played at the Toronto, New York and San Francisco film festivals. The opening shots mirror the first paragraphs of Conrad's story, as wealthy Parisian Monsieur Hervey (Greggory) descends from a train into the teeming bustle of the city. While on his way home, he reflects on the success of his life and the fortress of security he has built around himself. It is not long before his self-satisfaction is rudely shattered when he discovers a letter from his wife, Gabrielle (Huppert), waiting for him on his sideboard. The contents of the message will crumble that security and plunge him into newfound feelings of vulnerability, abandonment and betrayal. Husband and wife soon find themselves engaged in a parry-and-thrust of emotions that change mid-sentence and stretch their ability to function and live in the same house. Chéreau's films have always been marked by their dark, unrelenting penetration of the human psyche and this film is no exception. In its intensity and sharp-eyed focus on the perils and pitfalls of marriage, the film has a deep emotive power which recalls the films of Ingmar Bergman. The film is also filled with moments of sublime visual power; cinematographer Eric Gautier sculpts light and shadow into magical patterns. The combination of atmospheric settings, ardent performances and painterly camerawork makes Gabrielle a magical and absorbing piece of cinema. -- © IFC Films [More]
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory, Raina Kabaivanska
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory, Raina Kabaivanska
Director: Patrice Chereau
Director: Patrice Chereau
Screenwriter: Patrice Chereau, Anne-Louise Trividic
Studio: IFC Films
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Reviews for Gabrielle
A film that matches all too well the times it portrays, Gabrielle is claustrophobic, stifling, and not a little crusty. Saved only by its exquisitely bitter performances and immaculate design.
Rewards those who stay with it...at least those who use terms like deconstruction.
Co-screenwriter/director Patrice Chereau doesn't seem in any particular hurry with the pacing. He practically dawdles, which makes the whole thing feel longer than its relatively scant running time.
Although it is possible that French actress Isabelle Huppert makes the occasional false move, she does not make them in front of a camera.
This is a careful and cinematic adaptation that rings with painful truth.
Chronically impassive and faultlessly incurious about others, Gabrielle has been, for ten years, the perfect ornament of a social circle where 'emotion and failure are feared more than war.'
Most of all, we think, 'Gosh, all of these experiments make for a cold, uninvolving film.'
For the most part, [Chereau] lets Huppert and Greggory provide the emotional impact. They respond accordingly, imbuing their mutual suffering with an exacting and moving finesse.
A shocking, brilliantly original rumination on the subject of marital rot.
Chereau matches Conrad's insistence on psychological accuracy, burrowing through the protective layers of self-delusion that hold so many human relationships together.
Husband and wife, upper-class couple Jean and Gabrielle Hervey, are played, to perfection, by two of France's premier film actors: Pascal Greggory and Isabelle Huppert.
Greggory is up to that journey, revealing the character in his various colors, and Huppert is at her usual best, subtle, emotionally full, focused and honest.
A little less flash, and Gabrielle could have been a subtle classic. As is, it's still a powerful exploration of human nature.
The director's skillful handing and the superb performances are liable to manipulate a smart audience as easily as they manipulate one another.
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