Regardless if it contains the red-hot Martha Marcy May Marlene alumn Elizabeth Olsen and the months away from a potential Best Actor nom lock in Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), you can’t blame Mickey Liddell’s LD Entertainment for staying put on Therese. On top of having to deal with a just released, competing title of Thérèse (a.k.a Thérèse Desqueyroux) – the Cannes film based on the François Mauriac character, the title that sat on the shelf for the better part of last year and the 2013 campaign. Having thrown himself into the distribution game with some tricky, tough to bank titles Biutiful, I Love You Phillip Morris and the 4 star instant cult Killer Joe, this deal was probably cooked up somewhere in June, way before it was announced as a TIFF title. Roadside Attractions will pick up the load with in collaboration with LD Entertainment prez David Dinerstein. A September 27th release is set.
Gist: Written by Stratton, set in the lower depths of 1860’s Paris, THÉRÈSE is a tale of obsessive love, adultery, murder and revenge based on Emile Zola’s scandalous novel THÉRÈSE RAQUIN. Sexually repressed, beautiful and young, Thérèse (Olsen) is trapped in a loveless arranged marriage to her sickly cousin Camille (Tom Felton).
Worth Noting: Charlie Stratton was an actor who once appeared on an episode of Matlock – this is his directorial debut.
Do We Care?: Apart form the star quotient and film’s theatrical and premiere date delay, we’re up for some sultry infighting and a fresh take on this French classic. Marcel Carné’s 1953 The Adultress is perhaps the best known interpretation of the classic.
