MovieChat Forums > L'histoire d'Adèle H. (1975) Discussion > Question about casting (real Adele/Adjan...

Question about casting (real Adele/Adjani)

posted 15 years ago by BlueGreen
4 replies | jump to latest

I saw this film many years ago and it instantly became one of my favourites of all time - not least because of Isabelle Adjani.

Still, I just have to wonder: why did Truffaut cast a girl of twenty when Adele was thirty-three when she left for Canada - and forty-two when she returned to France? Surely the fact that it was a woman in full bloom - not a girl - who literally lost her mind over a man makes the story even more poignant and affecting?

I read in one of the reviews on this site that Truffaut supposedly risked criticism for casting such a beautiful actress, because it could make the story unbelievable (that anyone would reject such a beautiful woman, etc.).

Well, it seems in reality Adele was a stunning beauty. (Honore de Balzac, for example, wrote about her that she was "the greatest beauty" he had seen in his life.) So much so, in fact, that it would seem the director almost HAD to include that element in the film.

But surely there were stunning - and good - actresses of Adele's real age available in 1975?
(His "own" Fanny Ardant, for example, while still younger than the real Adele, would have been a very good choice in my opinion. Ardant, six years older than Adjani, had debuted in the theatre in 1974.)

Anyway, I find it strange that Truffaut would discard such an important element of the story (Adele being a WOMAN, not a girl) and yet keep the "beautiful" part...

Any thoughts?

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] jpgr1 14 years ago

That's interesting that Adele was said to be a stunning beauty. This portrait of her certainly indicates otherwise.

http://www.myartprints.com/kunst/french_school/portrait_presumed_adele_hugo_hi.jpg

[–] marthalorusso 14 years ago

Truffaut supposedly risked criticism for casting such a beautiful actress, because it could make the story unbelievable (that anyone would reject such a beautiful woman

You know, I always thought that Isabelle Adjani, Sophie Marceau and Jackeline Bisset were the most beautiful actresses in France, but here Adjani played to perfection this tormented woman, she was very credible, and at some point in the movie I forgot about her beauty because annoyance was all I felt every time she was stalking him. I could totally identify with Pinson, and feel and understand his irritation and rejection.

No matter how incredibly physically attractive a woman could be, obssession and madness are not appealing.

[–] Deleauvive 12 years ago

Not a thought, but an assumption :
Initially, Catherine Deneuve was presented for the role. Truffaut probably wanted to give Adjani a chance, her later career proves he was right to do so.
Also, a more experienced woman may not have demonstrated such naive endeavors to get married. I wasn't distracted by that change in the story, too bad you were.