The Story of Adèle H.

In 1863 a woman arrives in Halifax under a false name, looking for an English officer. Her name is Adèle Hugo, her father is Victor Hugo, and the man she is pursuing does not want her. She stays, writes letters, borrows money, lies, and spends years on it, going as far as the woman he is to marry. François Truffaut wrote the film from Adèle's real diaries and does not romanticise the passion: he ties unrequited love to a question of identity, to the impossibility of stepping out of a famous father's shadow. Isabelle Adjani played it at twenty and became one of the youngest performers nominated for an Oscar. Nestor Almendros photographed it. The film narrows as it proceeds and its ending is completely silent. Who it is for: viewers who like Truffaut and period drama built on obsession. Who it is not for: anyone wanting an eventful story, since the film watches a single collapse.