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The year is 1863. Adele Hugo (Isabelle Adjani, Possession) is the daughter of the legendary poet and novelist Victor Hugo. After falling in love with the British soldier Lt. Pinson (Bruce Robinson), Adele sails by herself to Nova Scotia, intending to persuade Pinson to marry her. Pinson callously rejects her advances; unperturbed, she continues to pursue him, and her obsession becomes wilder and more desperate, leading her to become increasingly outcast from society. The Story of Adele H. is a handsomely mounted costume drama that is nevertheless one of Francois Truffaut’s darkest and most psychologically complex works, with a legendary, Oscar-nominated central performance from the then 20-year-old Adjani.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

High-Definition digital transfer
Uncompressed mono PCM audio
Interview with Francois Truffaut (1975)
Interview with Isabelle Adjani (1980)
Footage of the premiere in Lyon with Truffaut and Isabelle Adjani (1975)
Interview with cinematographer Nestor Almendros (1986)
Interview with critic Phuong Le (2024)
Trailer
Optional English subtitles
Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
Limited edition booklet featuring archival writing
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

No tidbit about the real Adele Hugo, too bad. There are seemingly lots of experts who could be tapped for that..

The reference to "optional English subtitles" suggests that the French version will definitely be included - but there's no mention of the English version, so I'm assuming it's been omitted unless Radiance confirms otherwise.

Which would be a shame if that's the case, as it's not a dub - the French and English versions were specifically filmed in each language (à la Werner Herzog's equally dual-language Nosferatu the Vampyre a few years later), and I seem to recall Nestor Almendros saying that he preferred the English version on a strictly technical level as those shots were filmed second.

I don’t think the old MGM dvd had the English language version either. If it was included, that would be a BIG selling point locally seeing the film was mostly shot here.

There is a French disc coming out in 2 weeks and it doesn't look like the English version is included, which makes me wonder if the rights to that version is with someone else. Has the English version ever been released on home video?

Yes, I was wondering about that, in which case its omission is completely understandable.

Frustrating, though, for the same reason that it's a shame that the English version of Fellini's And the Ship Sails On has never had a commercial release. Admittedly in that case I know for certain that the English version is superior (for starters, it's narrated onscreen by the great Freddie Jones, who doesn't take kindly to being dubbed into Italian by someone with a far less distinctive voice), although regardless of qualitative comparisons between the two versions of Adele H it would be nice to see Bruce Robinson speaking his native language in his own voice, especially since he didn't play too many leads before switching to screenwriting.

On the MGM dvd the soundtrack is both French and English. Isabelle Adjani and Bruce Robinson speak both languages in the film. I’m not 100% certain, but even in the French speaking sequences it sounds like Robinson’s voice.

Robinson does indeed speak French - his older sister taught it to him.

I’ll wait to see how substantial the interviews are before I potentially upgrade my Twilight Time Blu, but I do think this is Truffaut’s last good film and the material is a natural fit for his eternally stunted emotional maturity

Almendros does state in his autobiography that every scene was shot in French, and then English, "thus, there are two slightly different negatives of the film in existence", but what makes more sense is that the various takes in each language were simply edited together to create the final bilingual film instead. Is there any evidence a undubbed, fully English version has actually been shown anywhere?

domino harvey wrote: Fri Aug 09, 2024 3:37 pm I’ll wait to see how substantial the interviews are before I potentially upgrade my Twilight Time Blu, but I do think this is Truffaut’s last good film and the material is a natural fit for his eternally stunted emotional maturity

Cineoutsider has a great breakdown of the extras

Interesting to learn from the extras that Adjani was cast due to her work in La gifle, a pleasant enough but mostly forgettable “soft” Lino Ventura comedy— she was def the best thing about it, though!

Tuppence wrote: Fri Aug 09, 2024 4:34 pm Almendros does state in his autobiography that every scene was shot in French, and then English, "thus, there are two slightly different negatives of the film in existence", but what makes more sense is that the various takes in each language were simply edited together to create the final bilingual film instead. Is there any evidence a undubbed, fully English version has actually been shown anywhere?

The Monthly Film Bulletin review (April 1977) specifies that it was the English version released in UK cinemas. The MGM DVD (the only time I'd previously seen the film) was the mostly French but with English sequences as on Radiance's Blu-ray.

I’m not generally big on Truffaut, but I thought this was quite good. It would’ve been enjoyable if it was just a showcase for Adjani’s excellent performance, but something deeper shows through in the way Truffaut’s stilted, 50s-ish mise en scène becomes a gentle cage for her to ricochet around. Almendros’ enveloping cinematography helps, too, with Truffaut’s occasional flatness.

Regarding the conversation above, I found the bilingual aspect of the film to be an important part of its decor, the way English is the language of polite and professional interactions while Adjani’s French rushes forth uncontained in her letters and pleading (oscillating between formal and informal address at times) with Robinson.