She married a forest and got stuck with the tree. The poison was optional. Or was it?
Thérèse is living in a provincial town, unhappily married to Bernard, a dull, pompous man whose only interest is preserving his family name and property. They live in an isolated country mansion surrounded by servants. Early in her marriage her only comforts are her fondness for Bernard's pine-tree forest, which was her primary reason for marrying him, and her love for her sister-in-law and Bernard's half-sister, Anne. The movie recounts in flashback the circumstances that led to her being charged with poisoning her husband.
Acting
Riva's face does three acts of tragedy without speaking.
Cinematography
Pines shot like prison bars, interiors like gilded coffins.
Direction
Franju turns bourgeois drama into creeping psychological horror.
Director
Georges Franju
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Franju specifically cast Riva after Hiroshima Mon Amour, wanting that same haunted quality for a woman who says everything while saying nothing.
Mauriac's novel was Catholic morality tale; Franju's film strips the sermon and makes Thérèse's sin feel like survival instinct.
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