Therese Desqueyroux

The Book

The book starts with Therese's acquittal at a trial where she is charged with the attempted murder of her husband and then, on her train journey back home, reviews what has lead her to this desperate act.
In just over 100 pages, Mauriac manages to convey the stifling, repressive backwater in which Therese endures her unloving husband whilst dreaming of a better life. The language is precise and vivid in order to cover Therese's past and the subsequent limitations that her husband places on her in order to maintain appearances.












So vain is Bernard, that he is unable to believe that the attempted murder by arsenic was a premeditated act based on an increasing hatred of him and reasons that the act must be to obtain his land and wealth. He does eventually show some sign of pity on Therese (or perhaps it is just removing her completely from his social sphere to avoid embarrassment) at the end, following her depression and loss of appetite, when he allows her to separate and move to Paris. It seems like a happy ending, with Therese free to mingle with other people and feel part of the throng.


 

The Film

The French film recreates the novel perfectly and expands on the original text to add extra layers to the characters.
The film runs in a straight narrative rather than looking back after Therese's trial and because of this we get a bit of backstory before Bernard saps the life out of her. She and Anne are shown as laughing girls, enjoying childhood in the sun. This helps to add a bit of context to the stifling and caged future that Therese comes to endure with the Desqueyroux family.
The other interesting addition is that of the forest fires that threaten her and Bernard's wealth, eating its way through their pine trees. In one scene we see Therese creep down stairs and out into the woods at night to have one of her chain-smoking cigarettes and deliberately set light to the tinder dry woods with a discarded match.

This helps to back up Therese's later denial that the attempted murder of her husband was all about inheriting his land and illustrates the gradual build up of hatred in Therese that develops from damage to his property to poisoning.

There is a great scene following the trial, where Audrey Tautou realises that because of her husband's perjury on her behalf and his payment for her lawyer, she will be even more under his control until she is like the trapped dead bird she sees in her carriage.

If you enjoyed the book, try Madame Bovary by Flaubert or Anna Karenina by Tolstoy