Adélaïde

The theme of mother-daughter rivalry is stretched to ludicrous extremes in this overdone, morbid French melodrama. A recently widowed mother (Ingrid Thulin) marries her young lover (Jean Sorel), whom she shares with her daughter Adelaide (Sylvie Fennee), and the psychotic trio set off to destroy themselves. A series of sick sexual games leads up to the final gunshots. The story contains little insight into human relations, develops pointlessly and seldom intensifies. The characters' somewhat obscure emotions fail to advance notions of truth or tragedy. What it does reflect is an unfortunate scenario of perversion for perversion sake.