Therese Raquin 1979 Not rated, but not for children due to subject Reviewed by R. Fahey 22 October 2002 When Therese Raquin was first shown on US television in 1981, an unknown supporting actor made enough of an impression on me that I watched for his name in the credits...then promptly forgot it! (More fool me.) When, twenty years on, my library acquired the video, I was first in line to check it out and refresh my memory. In the three-part mini-series based on the 1867 Emile Zola novel, Alan Rickman plays Vidal, an artist friend of Therese's lover Laurent (who is also a sometime artist). The character is based on an unnamed painter who appears briefly in the novel. In a tale that quickly goes sordid, dark and grim, Vidal's rather brighter counterpoint "opens up" the claustrophobic narrative. He is lithe, worldly, attractive, "normal." In Episode One, he is a struggling artist. (You can tell that by the ugly, ill-cut and -fitting clothes and the cheap straw hat he wears.) Laurent and he meet in a cafe for some male bonding over the progress of Laurent's affair with Therese. Episode Two finds Vidal, who has had some success at the latest Salon and shows it in his improved wardrobe, bringing Laurent back to his "bohemian" studio, complete with languishing nude female model. Dabbling with his palette and brush, he resembles a nineteenth-century Ed (The January Man). He tells Laurent that the model provides him with "extra" services as needed; he offers to share them with Laurent, who declines. In Episode Three, Vidal is very successful. He wears a well-tailored suit, carries a felt hat, and enters the scene holding a small cigar (quickly extinguished). Encountering Laurent in a bar, Vidal goes with him at his request to look at his new paintings. In Laurent's studio, Vidal picks up the canvases (watch Rickman's hands linger expressively) and critiques them. All the portraits, he remarks, have the same face: that of Therese's late husband.... This is all we see of Alan Rickman: about ten minutes out of three hours. It's enough to establish that in the two or three years since the filming of Romeo and Juliet, he has come a long way. Wearing the period clothes (if not the overly-curled and -sprayed hair) well, he projects ease, assurance and grace, and manages to draw the viewer's eye quite away from poor Brian Cox as Laurent. Seen now in retrospect, Rickman's performance foreshadows many of his later roles: Ed, as noted; and touches of what will become Hans, the Sheriff, probably Valmont.... In this brief early appearance, Alan Rickman nonetheless gives us a very good preview of coming attractions. Reviewed by Jo 21 November 2001 Therese Raquin is and excellent story. It is a riveting tale and well told by this cast. Kenneth Cranham as Camille and Brian Cox as Laurent are outstanding in their characterizations of (respectively) the cuckolded invalid husband, and the lover of Therese. Personally I found the scenes in the morgue rather disturbing, and I am not known to be squeamish, however, this was excusable, as it was so important that they have a lasting and distasteful effect, this being the effect it was supposed to have upon the character of Laurent. In a production of just under three hours, Alan Rickman only appears for about 10 minutes all told, however, his performance is, as usual, faultless. As Laurent’s friend and advisor he casts a jaundiced and cynical eye over the squalid goings on between Laurent and Therese, and seems to be both unshockable and unprincipled. Fans will be pleased to note that this is definitely a "good hair" part, and Mr. Rickman also sports a very becoming beard for the role. Without giving too much of the plot away, I would say that the major strengths of the production are the writing (translation from the Emile Zola novel is patchy in parts, but by and large pretty faithful to the excellent plot,) and the performance of the principal actors. My only complaint was that I felt a little bit ripped off by paying nearly £35 for a three video box set, then discovering that each video lasted approximately one hour - why not reduce the cost and put the whole thing onto one video? Amanda's photos Fausta thanks R. Fahey, Jo, and Amanda