Thérèse Raquin
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- A film adaptation[1] of Therese Raquin by Charlie Stratton is expected in 2008.
Thérèse Raquin is a novel by Émile Zola, first published in 1867.
Plot summary
Thérèse Raquin begins an affair with Laurent, an artist friend of her husband, and they conspire to drown the husband, while out on a boat trip. This enables them to marry, but their guilt comes between them: they imagine they see the dead man in their bedroom while they make love and Laurent cannot paint a picture (even a landscape) which does not in some way resemble the dead man. They also have to look after Thérèse's elderly mother-in-law, who has suffered a stroke. She discovers their crime and has a further stroke rendering her incapable of speech and movement except for her eyes which stare at them constantly. During an evening's game of dominoes with friends (an attempt to keep up a facade of normality) she manages to move her finger to trace a word on the table: "Thérèse and Laurent are ki..." (killers). At this point her strength gives out, and the words are interpreted as "Thérèse and Laurent are kind". Eventually, they find life together intolerable and plot to kill each other. Therese breaks down and admits that she was about to kill Laurent with a table knife, and he admits that he has bought poison. They embrace passionately one last time and both take poison and fall to the floor.
"The corpses lay all night, spread out contorted, on the dining-room floor, lit up by the yellow gleams from the lamp, which the shade cast upon them. And for nearly twelve hours, in fact until the following day at about noon, Madame Raquin, rigid and mute, contemplated them at her feet, overwhelming them with her heavy gaze, and unable to sufficiently gorge her eyes with the hideous sight."
