Set in the lower echelons of 1860s Paris, Therese Raquin, a sexually repressed beautiful young woman, is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille, by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin.
Sensitive performances from a willing cast bring Zola's novel to life on the big screen.
Director Charlie Stratton makes a decent fist of the ensuing intrigue, while Budapest fills in for 1860s Paris. Sadly, the result is more glum than gripping.
It rattles along compellingly enough if you don’t know the story but feels rather dated and is too melodramatic to move.
A major disappointment.
The poison slips down easily enough, but it's diet cola when set against 2009's Korean vampire movie Thirst, still this book's most potent screen translation.
The problem is that audiences are likely to become as fed up with the murderous lovers (Oscar Isaac, Elizabeth Olsen) as they become with each other.
Verdict: Too melodramatic by half.
Olsen and Isaac are hot but what have you done to the story, Stratton?
Notable largely for the anguished, nuanced performance of Jessica Lange.
Lange at least has an angle on her character; the rest of the cast simply hit their marks and spout dialogue like robots, delivering lines which should evoke erotic fervour, but are exchanged without urgency, conviction or belief.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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