Gabrielle

Plot synopsis:
In Montreal, Gabrielle is a 22-year-old woman with Williams syndrome and diabetes, handling her own insulin injections but not living independently. She is a member of The Muses of Montreal, a musical choir for people with disabilities, at the Recreational Centre, and meets a fellow singer named Martin, with whom she develops a relationship. Her sister, Sophie, is attempting to arrange travel to meet with her boyfriend in India, but is unwilling to leave Gabrielle behind. One night, Gabrielle and Martin are caught engaging in sexual conduct publicly in the Centre. Sophie and Martin's mother are called to the Centre to address the matter. Sophie defends Gabrielle and Martin's right to have sex in private, as they are in love and she feels they should be able to, as adults. Sophie also asserts Gabrielle has been educated in safe sex. Martin's mother is angry at the notion, saying Martin is a virgin and that sex is different for people with disabilities. Gabrielle and Martin no longer see each other at the Centre.
Gabrielle expresses frustration with her lack of autonomy to Sophie. Sophie wishes to see proof Gabrielle can live autonomously, warning her that having her own apartment will not bring Martin back. Gabrielle spends a day alone in the apartment, setting off the fire alarm with burnt toast, but when Sophie returns she is more concerned to see how Gabrielle has handled her diabetes. At the Centre, Gabrielle mourns Martin's absence while The Muses prepare for a concert with Robert Charlebois. Sophie is finally persuaded to travel to India, though this means she will miss the concert. On the day of the concert, Martin and Gabrielle have sex before performing.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Duck!" On the other hand, movies like Gabrielle where minute movements of the psyche are explored in depth by minimalistic means, these are what grip me, move me, keep me interested.
(Fabio Vacchi's amazing Alban Berg-like score seals the deal on this aspect of the work.) The dramatic set-to that results finds our non-hero groping for words to speak to the feelings he's never experienced before -- longing, regret, and finally grief at the loss of a love he's never allowed himself to know.As far from Merchant-Ivory as one can possibly imagine Chereau and production designer Olivier Radot (new to la famille Chereau) place the action in a museum-like mansion where a small army of servants move about at the service of this infernal couple and their friends.
Scenes of their fashionable parties suggest the Verdurins in Proust with cinematographer Eric Gauthier indulging in a color palette that makes the screen seem like a Manet come to life.Chereau is doubtless familiar with what Georges Bataille wrote of Manet: "A little superficial perhaps, but driven by inner forces that gave him no rest, Manet was possessed by a desire for something beyond his reach which he never fully understood and which left him for ever tantalized and unsatisfied, on the brink of nervous exhaustion." That's perfect description of the emotional heart of this very great film..
The visual beauty of its cinematography in contrast to the devastating psychological and emotional pain of its characters, brilliantly portrayed by Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Gregory.
No need here to repeat the details of the story...I do however want to point out what I have not read in any reviews or comments...that this is basically, as I see it, an evocation of the power and control struggle in a marriage...that moves between husband and wife in the most fascinating and brilliant way.
In a time of blockbuster, action movies, what a joy to experience a work of art that provides intense emotion, intelligent food for thought and visual nurturance..
Based on "The Return" by Joseph Conrad, "Gabrielle" tells the story of a woman in turn-of-the-century Paris who rebels against a loveless marriage.Jean Hervey is a successful newspaper publisher whose life is ruled far more by social obligation and ritual than by emotion or passion.
The remainder of the film is spent examining the couple's efforts to cope with the situation.This theme - of an aristocratic, free-spirited woman trapped in a figurative gilded cage by either the man in her life or society as a whole - was not exactly a novel one even at the time the story was written, but what separates "Gabrielle" from similar works is its unique concentration on the man instead of the woman, on HIS repression and inadequacies rather than hers.
Jean reveals much of what he's thinking through voice-over narration, as Gabrielle serves as a catalyst for his own emotional revolution.If "Gabrielle" reminds us of anything, it is of a film by Ingmar Bergman, one in which the characters talk out the minutiae of their relationships and their innermost feelings and thoughts at almost agonizing length - tedious to some in the audience, perhaps, but fascinating to others.
Patrice Chereau and Anne-Louise Trividic's literate screenplay plumbs the depths of the two souls involved, while Chereau's direction keeps things moving by employing a camera that sweeps with almost reckless abandon through the dusky rooms and crowded salons where the action takes place.Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory are perfectly cast foils as the husband and wife for whom "love" is no longer a viable option.
Each of the actors seethes with an intensity that reveals the passions that have long lain dormant under the couple's placid exteriors.Although Gabrielle may be the first of the two to throw off the cloak of respectability and go for what really matters, it is Jean's intense struggle with his own inner demons that commands most of our attention.
For despite the title being "Gabrielle," the film turns out to be much more Jean's story in the end than hers..
The looks on the faces of the chorus, their social clique & the servants in the troubled Hervey household says it all.Going in, I was reminded of another story of martial discord, David Hughes Jone's 'Betrayal' but 'Gabrielle' hit me as being more incisive and oppressive than anything I've seen adapted for Pinter.
(A friend objects that the house has electricity, but the same friend puts candles on the dinner table, and this lamp has a purpose.) There's a thesis in Film Studies for the communicative devices of each scene and what is referenced, like the way there is a less flamboyant version of scenes in Ruiz's "Le temps retrouvé." But then being restrained is the theme, and the tension is extreme without any thunderstorm or overt thrill (a thrill for these characters might be the horror).
The actors are always IN YOUR FACE and this fact, combined with an economic and well written script, heavy dark music, tremendously accurate and effective set design, and spot-on acting, made for an extremely moving and interesting exploration of the story.
For me, in tone and context, it felt a bit like Henry James' Portrait of a Lady (and probably works by Ibsen and others) Isabelle Huppert and her husband are extremely wealthy, cold, unemotional,detached from themselves and others, and 'safe' in that world.
Their house-where 99% of the film takes place, is a dark, heavy, classical, structured prison.(The director's background in stage directing is very evident in this film.) One little bubble bursts from that prison and then things change and the disintegration begins.
That is not, in and of itself, a bad thing, but in the last 20 minutes of the film, it is just WAY TOO MUCH: too heavy, too loud, and too repetitive;a bit like Bruchner at his worst.
He is a thoroughgoing artist, one who combines great intellect with a keen ear for music, camera movement, atmosphere, the spoken and unspoken word, and for accompanying some of the finest actors at work today in their realization of his visions.GABRIELLE is a case in point and for this viewer this is simply one of the strongest films to come out of France - a country much celebrated for its cinematic genius - in many years.
Inspired by Joseph Conrad's short story 'The Return' and adapted as a screenplay by Anne-Louise Trividic and Chéreau, the story is a brief history of a married couple whose ten-year marriage alters in one afternoon and evening - the time span of the film.Jean Hervey (Pascal Greggory) is a handsome man of wealth who 'acquired' a wife Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert) ten years ago.
Rather abruptly Gabrielle leaves a note on the dresser addressed to Jean, a note that states she has left him for a man: her need for sexual gratification has risen to the breaking point.
Jean is devastated, but as he nurses his broken glass-injured hand Gabrielle returns: she could not go through with ending the marriage of convenience.
She decides to structure her marriage to Jean by submitting to him sexually, a status that is novel to their marriage, and it is this role reversal of the masculine/feminine state that sends Jean panicked into the night.Chéreau uses many techniques to render this story about intimacy (or the lack thereof) that strongly support the power of the film: sections are in black and white representing the way things appear and are structured to the planned observation; Raina Kabaivanska plays and sings at a soirée (she is an actual opera star); Jean's staff of servants is only women instead of the usual mix of men and women; the musical score by the brilliant Italian contemporary composer Fabio Vacchi is used as a 'character' instead of background support; and the camera work by cinematographer Eric Gautier uses a full cinemascope camera set up to add weight to the project.But none of these subtleties would have worked so perfectly without the brilliance of acting of Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory.
As an added DVD feature there is an extended conversation with Chéreau, Huppert and Greggory about the film from the initial idea to the finished product and hearing these three brilliant artists share their insights is for once extremely additive to the film.
Gabrielle has fine actors, beautiful camera work and features a detailed look at upper crust French parlor society in the early 1900s.
If the director was going to do a Conrad adaptation, the original story needed to be better converted for cinema because it just didn't work.
Don't get me wrong, I'm as much of a film snob as anyone out there...but if you want to see a French film in which two characters spend the entire time arguing about a relationship, I strongly recommend skipping this tedious and basically shallow flick and watching instead Hiroshima Mon Amour or Last Year at Marienbad (both directed by Alain Resnais).Gabrielle is a strange film...the loud, tense music, the effects of lighting, the experimental flashing of words on the screen...all are wasted, in my opinion, on the more or less trite and endlessly circular argument the two characters carry out throughout the film.
The music, especially, often seems to bear no relationship at all or an extremely overblown one to the scene it is involved with.A lot of the reviews you will read here say you should think of this film as more of an opera or a play...but this is a FILM...and the story needs to be suited to that medium.
Patrice Chéreau, director of La Reine Margot and Intimacy, has made with Gabrielle a bad movie.
Casting Isabelle Huppert as Gabrielle was a bad choice, Pascal Greggory plays good at some moments , but his anger does not reach the audience.
The whole film is spoken in a wired, poetical language that makes the movie unbelievable and even boring when the same character speaks for about ten minutes without any interruption.
Jean (Pascal Greggory) does a good acting-job at the ending, where he's anger is serious and realistic.
I have watched Gabrielle probably as many times as I have read The Return and it is a wonderful tribute to the talent of all involved..
Based on Conrad's "The Return", "Gabrielle" is not a simple story of an unhappy marriage.
The deeper they get, the more sorrow they share and they face a marriage that has long turned to a masquerade, like their whole life.Their outburst will make both of them bleed from most of the long-paralyzed parts of their personalities.A great screenplay, great directing by Chereau, and wonderful actings from Huppert and Greggory..
I can't honestly claim to be a fan of Chereau and nothing in this effort really changes my mind but I am a fan of Isabelle Huppert and she obliges with her usual fine performance in the second film in a row (after Les Souers Fachees) in what will, we hope, turn out to be her new sleaze-free choice of roles..
French screenwriter and director Patrice Chèreau's tenth feature film which he co-wrote with French screenwriter Anne-Louise Trividic and produced, is an adaptation of a novel called "The Return" from 1897 by Polish author Joseph Conrad.
It tells the story about a wealthy and successful middle-aged man named Jean Hervey who returns home on the 10th anniversary of his marriage and finds a letter written by his wife named Gabrielle containing shocking confessions that causes an array of questions.This visually captivating period piece is a gripping and efficient chamber drama set in a bourgeois milieu where French filmmaker Patrice Chèreau portrays a married couple's crucial confrontation after a consequential revelation brings everything up to the surface.
With stunning cinematography by French cinematographer Eric Gautier, production design by French production designer and art director Olivier Radot, costume design by costume designer Caroline De Vivaise, timely score by composer Fabio Vacchi, a detailed and well written story, an interesting study of character and astute filming, this atmospheric and close to theatrical tale about love and marriage stands out and is empowered by Pascal Greggory and Isabelle Huppert's ardent lead performances..
It is not exactly unforgettable, but it is quite effective and gripping.At times, the movie seems like the Cliff Notes for "Scenes From a Marriage" Still, for all its faults there is a clear prospective on marriage in a certain near high society social class.
I haven't read the Joseph Conrad original so perhaps I needed to do so, to better appreciate the story.Of the 18 films I've seen at the festival so far, I found this film to be the least personally engaging and most frustrating.
Uninvolving story and unlikable lead characters coupled with a tedious pace completely annoyed me.
My feeling was that the film would never have been included in the festival if not for the clout of Huppert and the fact that it was French.
Interesting to note in the now completed 2006 Sydney Film Festival that it ranked 25th with the audience vote in a field of 25 world cinema features screened.
But it's all done in an almost monologue method , briefly interspersed with large titles on screen which I expect the makers of the movie thought to be profound yet I found completely ridiculous (the film ends with the words "AND HE NEVER RETURNED!".
2. Towards the end of the story, as the woman offers herself to re-find her husband at last (?) and we viewers get to see a glimpse of Isabelle Hupperts pubic hair, not seen since her nude photos in the french playboy Lui, 1981, it is then that we realize that Sexual Frustration is the main theme of the film.
5. I liked the film, but went to it only as a fan of Huppert.
The husband and wife are played by Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory, two of the best and ideally cast.
They contributed little to the story and their only purpose seemed to be to get the word experimental mentioned in any review of film.
the music created horror like tension at times which just added to your disappointment when one of the characters did not lose a head.there are plenty of short stories out there dying to bet converted into movies WHY in the world did the director choose this one..
There follows a lot of talk but very little communication between Jean (Pascal Greggory) and Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert) and between Gabrielle and her maid Yvonne (Claudia Coli).
Isabelle Huppert as usual is wonderful to watch, but may seem too modern a woman for the role she has here.
A variety of formal devices -- big titles as in a silent film; gratingly assonant modern music behind the witty general conversation at the dinner party; segments of film shot in black and white, beginning with the introduction where Jean appears arriving by train with his voice-over describing his perfect life -- are used to cut through the wild emotional disorder on display.
Based on the Joseph Conrad story "The Return," which Chéreau and company have made into a film of frigid grandeur.Seen at the New York Film Festival October 2005 and SFIFF April 2006.
We watch him as the story opens walking proudly throughout the streets of a smart quarter of the city thinking aloud for our benefit as a way of introduction.The next time we see Jean is at one of his Thursday dinners in which a group of friends gather around his table to eat, talk and do what people in his circle do.
It's at this moment that are introduced to Gabrielle, his lovely wife, an attractive woman who can hold her own at her parties because she commands attention from her friends whenever she speaks.For all appearances, the Harveys are a happily married couple without a care in the world.
To make matters worse, being a worldly man, he is more interested in what the friends in his circle will think about him, as it's obvious the servants will talk about them.Patrice Chereau has created a film that surprises at first, and then, when all is said and done, makes us feel we've been had for the way the Harveys decide to settle their differences.
Jean will never forgive Gabrielle, although at the end, one gets a hint that Gabrielle is willing to give Jean a part of herself she has kept away from him all along.The film, based on a Joseph Conrad short story, "The Return", which we haven't read, gets a great staging by the director, who also co-wrote the screen play with Anne-Louise Thivudic.
Mr. Chereau combines black and white photography in the early part of the film with color as the story develops.
Even though they are rich, have a great mansion, live comfortably, entertain friends, yet love eludes them, so Gabrielle has to go outside to feel wanted and needed.The film consists of basically two characters, Jean and Gabrielle.
Pascal Greggory and Isabelle Huppert are magnificent in the way they bring these two characters to life.
Both actors give performances of such depth, we are stunned by their range and how they interact with one another through the movie.The film is helped by the wonderful cinematography of Eric Gautier who works with the dark colors in the film that compliment the mood of the couple at the center of the action.
Do not waste your time seeing this horrible movie--I hated the actors the photography the servants the leads EVERYBODY..
This is the most shallow movie in the history of drama--if widely released it would set French films back for 2 decades.
Objectively speaking, the acting was excellent, and I was impressed by the way the film was shot.Problem is I was bored out of my skull after about 15 minutes.
Seeing now that this was based on a short story, I am of a strong opinion this would have made a good short film.