.png)
<Story>
Chapter 1 begins with Thérèse and her father leaving the court. Thérèse, who is coldly informed by her lawyer that her crimes have not been prosecuted, gets into a carriage with her father.
From Chapter 2, her childhood recollections and reality intersect. Thérèse girlhood friend Anne is like her sister. She eventually marries Anne's older brother, Bernard. Bernard and Anne's parents are landowners but have no education. Thérèse is the daughter of a local lawmaker. Both families agree with the marriage, but there are competitive spirits between the families. Eventually, Thérèse realizes that her husband's family is honored only with land and property, that is different from her upbringing, and that she is under pressure to have an heir to a boy.
Thérèse eventually gives birth to a child, but she can't take an interest in her daughter. She becomes lethargic to everything. Bernard's family and butlers are cold, and Thérèse often stays in her bedroom and smokes. After a while, Thérèse sins against her husband, but in a state of mind she does not know whether she was intentional or in her absentmindedness. The result of the trial is the scene of Chapter 1. After the trial, her final act goes to Paris with her husband, parting with mutual consent at the café, and her husband leaves.
<Discussion at Book Club>
“The book was wonderful! As expected, there are only works by Nobel laureates, so I can't say impressions of the book in a word, but I think escape from the closed world is an eternal theme. It would be difficult to live in one family or community your whole life. Nowadays, life choices are not often lifelong, but they seem more like projects. Anyone could be a Thérèse, who gets stuck in a spiral that falls down thinking of excuses for herself and others why she stays where she is. Thérèse believes there are no drastic changes in her life before and after an attempted murder of her husband, but Bernard, her father, and Anne are different and their changes are beautifully depicted in the book. I suppose generally human beings believe they are consistent regardless of what other perceive you, and that sadness left a lasting impression on me.”
“It was a book that was readable in many ways. First, the book could be very different depending on the translator. Shusaku Endo's translation was very familiar and easy to read. I felt Endo’s deep affection for the author, François Mauriac. I also watched the movie, which was faithful to the book. Although there was a difference between a carriage and a car, the way of drawing landscapes and figures in the movie seems to enrich what I had imagined by reading the book. In the 13th chapter (the last chapter of the book), however, the scene of Thérèse and Bernard together in Paris, was perhaps rather difficult to fully express in the movie the deep meaning and emotions described in the original book. There could be a limitation of my own imagination, but in any case, the book is definitely better for the final chapter. "
"A story of a wife who tries to murder her husband and leaves her child to others may be a problematic subject and a publication in the French countryside, where Catholicism was strong at the time. The feeling of home blockage that women feel when they are wealthy and satisfied is often interpreted as a ‘luxury disease’. It seems that Thérèse feelings can be understood by overlapping with modern phenomena. However, the difference is that modern women are more short-circuited and optimistically ‘parting’ the relationship or escaping the situation. Thérèse who lived with her hatred for her husband and her view of religion in her time was an action and a way of life that left me a big ‘why’ although I could understand it literally. I believe part of what Mauriac tried to write in this book was the invisible ego of humans, which I suspect led to tragedy."
"The change in the hearts of the protagonists was really interesting. In modern times, it feels like Netflix will make a movie as a thriller for a wealthy housewife postpartum depression."
Comments