Thérèse Desqueyroux

"It’s a blessing Audrey Tautou is so infinitely watchable because this leaden-paced period piece comes close to buckling under its own misery. Tautou, as the title character Therese, forges a successful match with the wealthy next-door neighbour – when success means combining their respective land holdings and ensuring the newlyweds can comfortably sit around smoking in country manors looking flapping gorgeous."

"Tastefully upholstered, but the narrative generates little heat, empathy or momentum."

"Without the presence of Tautou, this would be a dry heritage pic; with her, it brews a sense of enigma that just about saves the day."

"Tautou gives a self-possessed, complex performance – we sense a dam-burst of rage and boredom behind her mask. Otherwise... a tad on the stiff side."

"It's an opaque performance from Tautou in many ways, understandably so, and perhaps the film does not fully get inside her mind and heart; a confident, robust work nevertheless."

"Rich themes, beautifully illustrated. But fails to wow."

"Polished... has the glossy, well-dressed, slightly staid feel of a middlebrow TV miniseries."

"Stifling like an airless house, Miller's adaptation of the period novel is a beautiful, measured epitaph."