The Story of Adèle H.

The Story of Adèle H. (L'Histoire d'Adèle H., 1975) is François Truffaut's devastating portrait of obsession — watch it online on iFILM. Isabelle Adjani was nineteen when she played Adèle Hugo, the younger daughter of Victor Hugo, who crossed the Atlantic in secret to chase a British officer who no longer wanted her.

Halifax, late nineteenth century. Lieutenant Pinson has moved on. Adèle has not. She rents a room, writes in a coded diary, pays his gambling debts, invents a fiancé for her father's letters, and when Pinson ships out to Barbados, she follows him there too. Truffaut never frames this as romance — what he shows, methodically, is a brilliant woman dismantling herself piece by piece.

Adjani's performance earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, making her one of the youngest ever at that shortlist — and the film picked up a nod for Best Foreign Language Film as well. Cinematographer Néstor Almendros shot the whole thing in candlelight-cool tones that make Adèle's world feel already sealed off from the living. Stream The Story of Adèle H. (1975) on iFILM.