Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
Curapedi
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
grossindecency
Based on Conrad's "The Return", "Gabrielle" is not a simple story of an unhappy marriage. The couple does not only see the parts that don't work but digs into them, but both get hurt by the things they discover while trying to dig deeper. 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.
RNQ
Patrice Chéreau and his team continue to amaze. Their recent movies--"Intimacy" and "Son frère"--have been wild, and Isabelle Huppert has played some wild roles too. But "Gabrielle" is a masterpiece of control, an equal of the studio movies of Fritz Lang in the 1940s. A benchmark is Hitchcock's "Rebecca." Like those movies, every shot here, each turn of the head, is a statement of emotion (and a test of the actors' skill). Now not only music tells what the characters are doing, light is further nuanced with color. The almost-homage to black-and-white is astonishing, because it can also be lit into color, showing the characters' being forced to be here and now without escaping to old assumptions: a bitten lip bleeds red, a serving woman elaborately brings a softly glowing lamp upstairs. (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). If the source story was Conrad's homage to Henry James, here is a movie worthy of their capacity for narrative of the highest watchfulness and precision. Stay totally alert, movie goers.
buzzbruin
Do not waste your time seeing this horrible movie--I hated the actors the photography the servants the leads EVERYBODY.. The opening sequence was the worst in the history of sub-titles--talk, talk, talk--so much talk you coudnt follow the subtitles! I prayed that the husband would JUST STOP TALKING! I got it- she hated him as much as I did. The idea that this couple would have any kind of meaningful relationship was not possible. I hated the 3 maids and the scenes of their duties. Yeah I get it--in the 19th century women had no legal rights--a key explanation for some of the m Ivie's. There was absolutely no explanation or character development of their 'FRIENDS" One of my rules for any form of drama is to CARE about the people involved--these people should have been taken before a French firing squad asap! The (writing) was non-existent--the only information given was everybody hated everybody. The music was the MOST Inapropriate ever seen in the history of film, unrelated to anything in the plot. This is the most shallow movie in the history of drama--if widely released it would set French films back for 2 decades. The lead actors only talent was to be a boring pompous ass--thus I hated him as much as the role he played. The female lead was LOST--no emotional life--AND not ONE MOMENT OR WORD OF HUMOUR
Peegee-3
This incredible adaptation of Joseph Conrad's story,"The Return" has been haunting me for days. 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. has rarely been achieved in film. 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. My most grateful appreciation and admiration to Patrice Chereau for giving us this remarkable film. 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.
