Review of Therese

Franju is one of the under-appreciated French auteurs, and his adaptation of a famous Mauriac book is thus of great interest, as are his later versions of Cocteau and Zola. In this case, even though Mauriac had reservations about the results after working on the script himself, the rendition of a literary vision into film terms is one of the most accomplished I've seen. A new 2013 attempt makes an interesting comparison. Christian Matras' black and white images of the pine forests have been replaced by color, which is perhaps too pretty for the somber mood.The 1962 version did not try to reproduce the 1927 setting of the novel, the new movie does, which makes it more of an academic period piece. Franju also seems to make more of the animal imagery, such as the pigeons trapped in the netting and stuffed into bags by Therese's husband.Also there is nothing comparable to the score of Maurice Jarre, who before he became popular for his music for David Lean epics, did some lovely work for Resnais as well as Franju. For a more detailed and truly appreciative writeup on this major work, I recommend the chapter in the great critic Raymond Durgnat's Franju (1967).