Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Jessica Lange (Tootsie, Frances) star in Charlie Stratton’s feature debut, an adaptation of Emile Zola’s scandalous ‘mud and blood’ novel Thérèse Raquin.
Olsen is Thérèse, a young woman in 1860s Paris trapped in an unsatisfactory marriage to her sickly cousin Camille (Tom Felton – the Harry Potter series) by her domineering aunt Madame Raquin (Jessica Lange).
Bored of her confinement both at work and at home, she’s immediately intrigued by her husband’s suave childhood friend Laurent (Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis) when he arrives on the scene; an intrigue that leads to a compulsive affair with far-reaching consequences.
A great deal of the pleasure of this pacey, handsomely-shot drama, faithful to the spirit of Zola’s novel – which considers the problem of uncontrollable desire in a restrictive society – comes from the interplay between the superb Jessica Lange and Elizabeth Olsen; with a supporting cast featuring British actors Shirley Henderson, Mackenzie Crook and Matt Lucas.