Gabrielle is a 2005 French film directed by Patrice Chéreau. It is a screen adaptation of Joseph Conrad's short story The Return.

Plot

Jean Harvey and his wife Gabrielle are renowned within Paris's haute bourgeoisie for the salons they host each Thursday evening. Jean and Gabrielle live a comfortable yet regimented life in a well-appointed Paris mansion, assisted by a retinue of devoted servants. Yet their marriage is more of a contract than a relationship. Jean confides to the audience that he loves Gabrielle "as a collector loves his most prized object." On their 10th anniversary, Jean comes home to find a note from Gabrielle in which she writes that within the hour she will have left to meet her lover. Jean spends several minutes digesting the meaning of the note. Gabrielle returns shortly, though, and Jean and Gabrielle reflect on their marriage for the remainder of the film.

Cast

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Gabrielle holds an approval rating of 74%, based on 54 reviews, and an average rating of 6.7/10. Its consensus reads, "Patrice Chéreau's exquisite rendering of Joseph Conrad's The Return brings underlying passions to surface in a long-suffering marriage". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". Gabrielle was placed at 89 on Slant Magazine's best films of the 2000s.

Accolades