Therese and Isabelle
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Radley H. Metzger
Essy Persson
Anna Gael
Barbara Laage
Anne Vernon
Maurice Teynac
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Therese, a Frenchwoman in her mid-thirties, returns to a girls' boarding school she attended years before. As she walks among the empty buildings, closed for the summer vaction, she recalls the events that took place there so long ago: While a young girl, she is sent to the school following her mother's remarriage to a businessman who is uninterested in children. Although her first days are lonely ones, Therese eventually finds solace in the company of Isabelle, a schoolmate as unhappy as herself. Despite the fact that neither girl seems to evince the usual interest in boys, they do occasionally date. One weekend, when Isabelle is visiting her parents, Therese goes out with a local boy, Pierre, and succumbs to his passionate and somewhat brutal lovemaking. This unpleasant experience only increases Therese's need for Isabelle, who has returned from her parents' home in a similar state of anxiety. In time the mutual dependence of the two girls leads to love, both emotional and physical. En route to visit a doctor in Paris, they rent a room in a hotel patronized by prostitutes, but Therese is repulsed by the sordid atmosphere and the noises coming from neighboring rooms, and they leave without fulfilling their purpose. That night they make love on the school grounds, but their affair ends abruptly the following morning when Isabelle's mother suddenly and inexplicably removes her daughter from the school . Therese remains haunted by the memory of the lover she has never seen again, and she turns from the old school and walks slowly back to the car where her fiancé is waiting.
Director
Radley H. Metzger
Cast
Essy Persson
Anna Gael
Barbara Laage
Anne Vernon
Maurice Teynac
Remy Longa
Simone Paris
Suzanne Marchellier
Nathalie Nort
Darcy Pullian
Martine Leclerc
Bernadette Stern
Serge Geraert
Edith Ploquin
Alexander Kobes
Crew
Georges Auric
A. Guertner
Hans Jura
Guy Lacourt
Radley H. Metzger
Radley H. Metzger
Marie-madeleine Paris
Osman Ragheb
Roxane Vaisborg
Jesse Vogel
Humphrey Wood
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Filmed in France in 1968 at the Abbey of Royaumont. German release title: Therese und Isabell. Released in the U. S. in subtitled French language version.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in France 1968
Released in United States May 14, 1968
Released in United States November 11, 1997
Released in United States on Video November 11, 1997
Released in United States Spring May 14, 1968
Shown at Los Angeles International Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Festival July 11-20, 1991.
Shown at New York International Festival of Lesbian and Gay Film June 17, 1989.
Shown at New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival June 5-15, 1997.
Shown at OUTFEST '98: The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival July 9-20, 1998.
35mm
b&w
dialogue French
9990 feet
subtitled
rtg BBFC X
Ultrascope
Released in France 1968
Released in United States May 14, 1968 (New York City)
Released in United States Spring May 14, 1968
Released in United States November 11, 1997
Released in United States on Video November 11, 1997
