Customer Reviews

Therese and Isabelle

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3 star:		(1)
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This Radley Metzger lesbian coming of age movie from 1968 is a true masterpiece! It is a well-directed, charming and bittersweet piece of nostalgia.

It tells the story of an elegant woman, called Therese, who comes to pay a visit to her former private school. Due to a holiday the school is empty. Wandering through the deserted facility, she begins to reminisce about her past and her encounter with Isabelle a fellow classmate, 20 years ago. Despite certain odds, Therese and Isabelle fell madly in love.

The European influence of its making is undeniable. But it avoids diffuse excursions in intellectualism and, ultimately, boredom. «Therese and Isabelle» is by no mean the usual sexploitation flick. Nonetheless, even if the nudity is rather tame (by standards of the late 60's), it represents an inherent part of the storytelling. The growing attraction between the two main characters is paralleled by the increasingly showing of skin. It gets more and more «daring» as the love affair slightly reaches its climax.

The black and white photography is very sophisticated with nicely crafted crane and wide shots as well as poignant close-ups. Due to its non-linear storytelling, there are also some interesting «virtual» interactions - thanks to invisible fade-outs - between the present day and the past, i. e. between the adult Therese and visions of her vivid memories.

«Therese and Isabelle» does also willfully neglect a lot of conventional clichés. Remember: It has been in 1968. There is no dominating/evil and no submissive/angelic character. Therese and Isabelle both take bold steps to deepen their relationship. They are equals, willing to make their own decisions. And there is no proverbial mob condemning «unnatural behavior». In fact, they simply did not get caught. So, if there is no happy-end it is not because of someone else's malignity. Which is quite refreshing.

Essy Persson (Therese) and Anna Gaël (Isabelle) deliver a very sensitive performance with a naive on-screen chemistry between the two actresses. Persson may have been 27 during the filming process, which sometimes stretches the plausibility of her playing a 17 years old adolescent but, on the other hand, it was a helpful factor when she had to play the older Therese.

The screenplay is based on a mostly autobiographic French novel written by Violette Leduc. «Therese et Isabelle» was first published in 1966 but largely expurgated before publication by feminist icon Simone de Beauvoir (a close friend of Leduc's) due to its alleged unsuitable and graphic content. The definitive edition was finally published in 2000. During the movie, the off-voice of Essy Persson/Therese delivers several suggestive excerpts from the book.

The memorable original score has been penned by Georges Auric, a famous French musician who composed the music for such classics as «Moulin rouge», «The Wages of Fear», «Roman Holiday» and «Lola Montès».

It was a serious attempt to show the developing sexuality of two schoolgirls and did not try to exploit its fact... Even by today's standards, the film is interesting and provocative...

Therese and Isabelle are both attending the same girl's school... Therese is energetic, intelligent, and becomes a mentor for the innocent, naive, sweet Isabelle... She guides her through a number of exotic experiences, including a trip through an exclusive brothel, into her first lesbian liaison, and indirectly into her first heterosexual experience...

The film does not exploit any sex, nor is there an abundance of nudity... The imagery is effective, but sometimes the camera lingers too long, and the story goes slowly...

The director, Radley Metzger, went on to make a number of explicit erotic films under the name of Henry Paris... He always has extremely detailed stories, good acting, and very high standards of cinematography...

Artistically, however, this is perhaps his most complete... His later attempts supplied for entertainment, whereas "Therese and Isabelle" was a study into the nature of youthful eroticism...

Very nice B&W movie, I enjoyed it, don't expect anything XXX, watch it as a "regular" movie, the story is really good, it's a nice flashback into the memories of a college girl.
The ending is really good too, and trust me, you do wonder how it ends...
the acting is good too, basically a teenage girl-girl love story, really well done Mr. Metzger!

This was a gift and I did not review this vintage movie. The service was excellent