Thérèse Raquin

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Thérèse Raquin book cover.

Thérèse Raquin is a novel by Émile Zola, first published in 1867.

1 Plot summary
2 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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 & 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 word on the table: "Therese and Laurent are ki..." (killers) At this point her strength gives out, and the words are interpreted as "Therese 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."

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Zola adapted the novel into a play which was first staged in 1873.

The novel was made into several films, including:

Thérèse Raquin (1928 movie)
Thérèse Raquin (1953 movie), directed by Marcel Carné and starring Simone Signoret
Therese Raquin (2006 movie)

The novel was also made into a television miniseries by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1980.

An opera based on the novel has been written by the composer Michael Finnissy.

The novel was also made into a Broadway musical:

Thou Shalt Not (musical), with music composition by Harry Connick, Jr.

The novel (rewritten in the style of James M. Cain) was the basis of the play "The Artificial Jungle" by Charles Ludlam.

[edit] Trivia

This book is thought to be the inspiration behind Degas's painting Interior (The Rape) (1868-69), depicting a couple, the woman in distress with a threatening figure at the door.