# The Story of Adèle H.
**The Story of Adèle H.** (French: *L'Histoire d'Adèle H.*) is a 1975 French drama film directed by [François Truffaut](https://www.edgepedia.org/francois-truffaut), adapted from Frances Vernor Guille's reconstruction of the journal of Adèle Hugo, the daughter of the writer [Victor Hugo](https://www.edgepedia.org/victor-hugo). It stars [Isabelle Adjani](https://www.edgepedia.org/isabelle-adjani) as Adèle and Bruce Robinson as Lieutenant Albert Pinson, the English officer whose rejection of her love drives Adèle into madness. The film was released in France on 8 October 1975.[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16458441b) • [2](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lHistoire_dAd%C3%A8le_H/5091)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writers | François Truffaut; screenplay by Truffaut, Jean Gruault, and Suzanne Schiffman, with Frances Vernor Guille as collaborator[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51569.html) |
| Source | *Le Journal d'Adèle Hugo* as reconstructed by Frances Vernor Guille, an American academic[2](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lHistoire_dAd%C3%A8le_H/5091) • [4](https://www.cinematheque.fr/expositions-virtuelles/truffaut/reperes/fiches-documentaires/films-truffaut-gruault/adele-h.php) |
| Principal cast | Isabelle Adjani (Adèle Hugo), Bruce Robinson (Lieutenant Pinson), Sylvia Marriott (Mrs. Saunders)[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51569.html) |
| Release | France, 8 October 1975; production companies Les Films du Carrosse and Les Artistes Associés[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16458441b) • [3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51569.html) |
| Key crew | Nestor Almendros (cinematography), Maurice Jaubert (music), Yann Dedet (editing), Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko (set design)[2](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lHistoire_dAd%C3%A8le_H/5091) |
| Honors | Grand Prix du cinéma français 1975; three César nominations in 1976; Oscar nomination for Adjani as Best Actress[5](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/lhistoire-dadele-h/-28040/) • [6](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D29709.html) |
| Historical Adèle | Interned in 1872 after her vain pursuit of love; died in 1915 at age 85 without having recovered her reason[7](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2004/10/17/p-l-histoire-d-adele-h-p_4305398_1819218.html) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film opens in 1863, when Adèle Hugo, the younger daughter of Victor Hugo, lands at [Halifax, Nova Scotia](https://www.edgepedia.org/halifax-nova-scotia). She has left her family, then living in exile on Guernsey, to find Lieutenant Albert Pinson, an English army officer she had met in Jersey and with whom she is desperately in love. Pinson does not love her, and he refuses her repeatedly, but Adèle persists, following him from posting to posting and eventually to Barbados. Her obsession deepens each time he withdraws, and she loses her reason.[2](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lHistoire_dAd%C3%A8le_H/5091) • [8](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1988/09/18/truffaut-adjani-une-rencontre-unique_4083603_1819218.html)
The story is framed by what surrounds Adèle rather than by action. The Larousse film dictionary describes the film's central challenge as telling a love story with a single character, with the weight of the absent figures, the father who was then the most famous man in the world, the drowned sister Léopoldine, and the fleeing lover, carried by Adjani's face. Adèle's failure proves creative in one respect: she writes, and her journal is the record on which the film rests.[2](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lHistoire_dAd%C3%A8le_H/5091)
The film states its own claim to truth at the outset: it opens with the statement that the story is true (*authentique*).[9](https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/179022/1/SAH_PHD_THESIS.pdf) The historical Adèle Hugo was interned in 1872 after her fruitless pursuit and died in 1915, aged 85, without recovering her sanity.[7](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2004/10/17/p-l-histoire-d-adele-h-p_4305398_1819218.html)
## Origin and development
**A long-gestating project.** Truffaut first conceived the film in 1969, after reading the decoded version of Adèle Hugo's journal published that year by Frances Vernor Guille, a professor at Wooster College in Ohio. He and Jean Gruault had just written *The Wild Child* from Dr. Jean Itard's memoir, and the pleasure of building a fiction on real events, inventing nothing and not altering the documentary truth, made Truffaut want to repeat the method.[4](https://www.cinematheque.fr/expositions-virtuelles/truffaut/reperes/fiches-documentaires/films-truffaut-gruault/adele-h.php) • [10](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/fran%C3%A7ois%20truffaut%3Cbr%3Efor%20the%20love%20of%20films/2022/02/09/story-of-adele-h/)
Writing began in September 1970, the fourth Truffaut–Gruault screenplay. Between difficult rights negotiations with Guille, other projects the two men pursued in parallel, and several versions of the script, shooting did not begin until four years later, in January 1975, and ran through March.[4](https://www.cinematheque.fr/expositions-virtuelles/truffaut/reperes/fiches-documentaires/films-truffaut-gruault/adele-h.php) • [8](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1988/09/18/truffaut-adjani-une-rencontre-unique_4083603_1819218.html) Truffaut had set the start date of 6 January 1975 in a letter to Isabelle Adjani written in September or October 1974, before she had even agreed to make the film.[11](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2025/08/24/francois-truffaut-s-obsession-with-isabelle-adjani_6744680_183.html)
The film was produced by Les Films du Carrosse, the company Truffaut founded in 1957, together with Les Artistes Associés, the French subsidiary of [United Artists](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-artists); Marcel Berbert was executive producer and Claude Miller production manager.[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51569.html) • [12](https://carlottafilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/COMM-PRESSE-FRAN%C3%87OIS-TRUFFAUT-LES-ANN%C3%89ES-DOR-DEF.pdf)
## Style and themes
For Truffaut, the film was another variation on his recurring theme of obsessive love, a line that runs through *The Bride Wore Black*, *[Mississippi Mermaid](https://www.edgepedia.org/mississippi-mermaid)*, *The Two English Girls*, and later *[The Man Who Loved Women](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-man-who-loved-women)*.[11](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2025/08/24/francois-truffaut-s-obsession-with-isabelle-adjani_6744680_183.html) • [13](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1984/10/23/l-eternel-masculin_3007306_1819218.html) The BFI's program notes describe it as a piercing study of obsession whose protagonist, ingeniously deceitful and self-deluding, believes herself a romantic heroine, while the filmmakers convey her predicament with tender compassion.[14](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=storyofadeleh)
Nestor Almendros's cinematography places the film in the romantic vein of Truffaut's *Jules and Jim* and *The Two English Girls*, according to the Cinémathèque québécoise.[15](https://www.cinematheque.qc.ca/fr/cinema/lhistoire-dadele-h/) The score uses pre-existing music by Maurice Jaubert, who died in 1940, with a solo saxophone part played by Jacques Noureddine.[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51569.html) • [16](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/pdf/2022-02-09-story-of-adele-h.pdf) Truffaut himself appears briefly on screen as an officer, in the manner of his model [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-hitchcock)'s cameo appearances.[6](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D29709.html)
## Reception and honors
The film won the Grand Prix du cinéma français in 1975, and the New York Film Critics Society awarded it Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress for Adjani.[2](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lHistoire_dAd%C3%A8le_H/5091) • [6](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D29709.html) At the 1976 César ceremony it received three nominations: Best Actress for Adjani, Best Set Design for Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko, and Best Director for Truffaut.[5](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/lhistoire-dadele-h/-28040/) Adjani was also nominated for the [Academy Award for Best Actress](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-actress) the same year; the César went to [Romy Schneider](https://www.edgepedia.org/romy-schneider) for *L'Important c'est d'aimer* and the Oscar to [Louise Fletcher](https://www.edgepedia.org/louise-fletcher) for *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*.[6](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D29709.html)
In France the initial public and critical response was lukewarm, far from the classic status the film later attained.[11](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2025/08/24/francois-truffaut-s-obsession-with-isabelle-adjani_6744680_183.html) A restored version was re-released in French cinemas on 3 August 2022 as part of a Carlotta Films retrospective of Truffaut's films distributed by Les Artistes Associés.[6](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D29709.html) • [12](https://carlottafilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/COMM-PRESSE-FRAN%C3%87OIS-TRUFFAUT-LES-ANN%C3%89ES-DOR-DEF.pdf)
## Adjani's breakthrough
The film revealed Isabelle Adjani, then a very young and largely unknown actress.[17](https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/1975-isabelle-adjani-sur-le-tournage-de-adele-h) On the set she described her character as a whole person with a fixed idea, someone who loves and suffers because she loves, and observed that the link between genius, creation, and pain was something the twentieth century still had trouble detaching itself from.[17](https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/1975-isabelle-adjani-sur-le-tournage-de-adele-h) In 1976, at age 21, she traveled to Los Angeles to promote the film at the Oscars, where she was nominated for Best Actress.[18](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2025/09/07/isabelle-adjani-s-puzzling-career-from-disappearances-to-spectacular-comebacks_6745128_183.html) The Larousse dictionary calls the role one of her finest performances.[2](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lHistoire_dAd%C3%A8le_H/5091)
## References
1. [Notice de titre conventionnel "L'histoire d'Adèle H. (film)", Bibliothèque nationale de France](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16458441b)
2. [l'Histoire d'Adèle H., Larousse, Dictionnaire mondial des films](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lHistoire_dAd%C3%A8le_H/5091)
3. [L'Histoire d'Adèle H., La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51569.html)
4. [Le cinéma à quatre mains: L'Histoire d'Adèle H., La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/expositions-virtuelles/truffaut/reperes/fiches-documentaires/films-truffaut-gruault/adele-h.php)
5. [L'histoire d'Adèle H., Académie des César](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/lhistoire-dadele-h/-28040/)
6. [L'Histoire d'Adèle H., AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D29709.html)
7. [L'Histoire d'Adèle H., Le Monde (2004)](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2004/10/17/p-l-histoire-d-adele-h-p_4305398_1819218.html)
8. [Truffaut-Adjani: une rencontre unique, Le Monde (1988)](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1988/09/18/truffaut-adjani-une-rencontre-unique_4083603_1819218.html)
9. [Writers On Screen: Embodying The "Life-Text" (PhD thesis, Universitat de Barcelona)](https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/179022/1/SAH_PHD_THESIS.pdf)
10. [The Story of Adele H., BFI Southbank Programme Notes](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/fran%C3%A7ois%20truffaut%3Cbr%3Efor%20the%20love%20of%20films/2022/02/09/story-of-adele-h/)
11. [François Truffaut's obsession with Isabelle Adjani, Le Monde (2025)](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2025/08/24/francois-truffaut-s-obsession-with-isabelle-adjani_6744680_183.html)
12. [François Truffaut, les années d'or, Carlotta Films press kit](https://carlottafilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/COMM-PRESSE-FRAN%C3%87OIS-TRUFFAUT-LES-ANN%C3%89ES-DOR-DEF.pdf)
13. [François Truffaut et l'éternel masculin, Le Monde (1984)](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1984/10/23/l-eternel-masculin_3007306_1819218.html)
14. [The Story of Adèle H, BFI Southbank](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=storyofadeleh)
15. [L'histoire d'Adèle H., Cinémathèque québécoise](https://www.cinematheque.qc.ca/fr/cinema/lhistoire-dadele-h/)
16. [The Story of Adele H. credits, BFI programme notes PDF](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/pdf/2022-02-09-story-of-adele-h.pdf)
17. [1975, Isabelle Adjani sur le tournage de "Adèle H", INA](https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/1975-isabelle-adjani-sur-le-tournage-de-adele-h)
18. [Isabelle Adjani's puzzling career, Le Monde (2025)](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2025/09/07/isabelle-adjani-s-puzzling-career-from-disappearances-to-spectacular-comebacks_6745128_183.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1970s › Released 1975 to 1979*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license