A feverish, tragic study of obsession anchored by Isabelle Adjani’s extraordinary performance. It’s less a conventional romance than a portrait of self-consuming desire, emotional unraveling, and the cost of refusing reality.
64% ★★★☆☆ (25,652)
The Story of Adèle H.
Where to watch: fuboTV
Movie · Drama · History · PG
1975 · 1h 38m · ★ 64% (25.7K)
What kind of woman would wait her whole life for one man...? And what kind of man would deny her...?
Director: François Truffaut
Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson, Sylvia Marriott
Overview
In the 19th century a mysterious woman named Adele H. crosses the ocean, from Europe to North America, to relentlessly pursue a handsome officer that denies her satisfaction.
Director
François Truffaut
Production
Les Films du Carrosse, Les Productions Artistes Associés
Cast
Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson, Sylvia Marriott, Joseph Blatchley, Ivry Gitlis, Louise Bourdet, Cecil De Sausmarez, Ruben Dorey, Clive Gillingham, Roger Martin, M. White, Madame Louise, Jean-Pierre Leursse, Geoffroy Crook, Chantal Durpoix, Raymond Falla, David Foote, Jacques Frejabue, Carl Hathwell, Edward J. Jackson
Where to watch
fuboTV, MGM Plus, Philo
Curator Review
Verdict
A feverish, tragic study of obsession anchored by Isabelle Adjani’s extraordinary performance. It’s less a conventional romance than a portrait of self-consuming desire, emotional unraveling, and the cost of refusing reality.
Best for
viewers drawn to intense psychological dramas
fans of literary period pieces and historical character studies
people interested in obsessive love stories told with restraint rather than melodrama
admiring major star performances
Skip if
you want a warm or uplifting romance
you prefer fast-moving plots and clear emotional catharsis
you’re put off by characters making painfully self-destructive choices
Overview
The Story of Adèle H. is one of Truffaut’s most severe and haunting films, a period drama that feels almost like a psychological descent. Rather than treating Adèle’s fixation as a sweeping romance, the film studies it as an illness of longing: private, humiliating, and increasingly detached from the world around her. The result is austere but deeply absorbing.
Worth noting
Isabelle Adjani gives a startling debut performance, balancing fragility, pride, and delusion in a way that makes Adèle both pitiable and frightening. Truffaut keeps the film disciplined and unsentimental, which only sharpens the tragedy. There’s little comfort here, but there is a rare clarity about how obsession can become a total identity.
Bottom line
This is not an easy watch, and that’s part of its power. If you respond to character studies that linger on emotional extremity, historical atmosphere, and performances that dominate the frame, it’s a striking and memorable film.
Top Letterboxd reviews
phoebe 💫 (3.5★) · 741 likes
nobody does crazy horny girl hours better than isabelle adjani. in her defense, I would also go cuckoo bananas if I was THAT hot and kept getting rejected
Ronaldo (3.5★) · 387 likes
No man is worth this
cat bb (4★) · 303 likes
jesus sis was really going through the trenches for the most mediocre white bread man
Ave (3.5★) · 257 likes
IM STILL YOUNG AND YET IT SOMETIMES SEEMS TO ME THAT IVE REACHED THE AUTUMN OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!! she’s just like me
alanisㅤ. (4★) · 205 likes
“ℐ have the religion of love. i don’t give my body without my soul, nor my soul without my body.” ୨ৎ