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Gabrielle (2005)

tomatometer

75

Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 53
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 13

Patrice Chéreau's exquisite rendering of Joseph Conrad's The Return brings underlying passions to surface in a long-suffering marriage.

81

Average Rating: 7.3/10
Critic Reviews: 21
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 4

Patrice Chéreau's exquisite rendering of Joseph Conrad's The Return brings underlying passions to surface in a long-suffering marriage.

audience

32

liked it
Average Rating: 2.7/5
User Ratings: 16,630

My Rating

Movie Info

A seemingly ideal marriage is thrown into embarrassing turmoil in Patrice Chéreau's period drama, Gabrielle. Based on the short story The Return by Joseph Conrad, the film opens with Jean (Pascal Greggory) extolling the virtues of his pretty wife, Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert), in voice-over as he makes his way home from work. Jean and his wife, with help from their team of servants, have fostered the illusion of a perfect bourgeois household. Jean is particularly happy with the way Gabrielle

Dec 19, 2006

$89.7k

IFC First Take

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All Critics (60) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (13) | DVD (4)

Although it is possible that French actress Isabelle Huppert makes the occasional false move, she does not make them in front of a camera.

November 17, 2006 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a careful and cinematic adaptation that rings with painful truth.

November 16, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
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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.

September 28, 2006 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
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Chereau matches Conrad's insistence on psychological accuracy, burrowing through the protective layers of self-delusion that hold so many human relationships together.

September 15, 2006 Full Review Source: Denver Post
Denver Post
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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.

September 7, 2006 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

August 25, 2006 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A work of stunning intensity underneath opulent fabrics

August 30, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion
CinePassion

Both protagonists give elegant and moving performances.

January 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

far greater insight, analysis and reflection than is normally found in dvd extras.

September 17, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film
Eye for Film

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.

June 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

Rewards those who stay with it...at least those who use terms like deconstruction.

February 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

Those who love Chéreau should not miss this exquisite chamber drama.

December 15, 2006 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

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.

December 1, 2006 Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

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.'

November 11, 2006 Full Review Source: The Nation
The Nation

Most of all, we think, 'Gosh, all of these experiments make for a cold, uninvolving film.'

November 9, 2006 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A shocking, brilliantly original rumination on the subject of marital rot.

September 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Film Threat

Audience Reviews for Gabrielle

[font=Century Gothic]In "Gabrielle", Jean(Pascal Greggory) is a wealthy businessman who has been married to Gabrielle(Isabelle Huppert) for the past ten years. Together they host a literary salon every Thursday, that is much respected. One Wednesday, soon after returning home from work, Jean reads a note from his wife, informing him that she has left him for another man.[/font]

[font=Century Gothic]But Gabrielle soon returns. And everybody lives happily ever after, right?[/font]


[font=Century Gothic]With "Gabrielle", director Patrice Chereau pulls out all the stops in telling this devastatingly powerful tale of marriage which is based on "The Return" by Joseph Conrad. In the brief time we spend with Gabrielle and Jean, we get a very good idea of what their marriage is like...and it isn't pretty, starting with Jean considering Gabrielle little more than a possession and a key to the perfect life he imagines for himself. But how does she feel about the situation? Isabelle Huppert gives another great, fearless performance and Pascal Greggory keeps pace with her. [/font]
August 13, 2006
Harlequin68
Walter M.

Super Reviewer

This one finally popped up as being available on DVD a couple of years ago so I finally tracked it down. Was disappointed. It wasn't compelling enough compared to other period pieces.
January 13, 2010
John Ballantine

Super Reviewer

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