L'Histoire d'Adèle H

Cosmetics and wardrobe deconstruct, in Françoise Truffaut’s L’Histoire D’Adele H, to accentuate the mental unraveling of Adele.

During the beginning of the film, we see a beautifully composed femme. She is full of hopes that she will be able to re-acquire her intimate connection with her lost love [character]. She has a trunk of beautiful silk dresses. Her mane is proper, soft as the silk of her garb, her lips are soft and subtle, and her skin is flawless. However, they gradually wear out while her hopes depreciate in her reality.

As the story progresses, her wardrobe becomes stale. Her mane is sporadically wild. Her flesh becomes flushed with sweat. She also rarely changes her dresses. Adele tends wear the red dress on the regular basis. Her grasp on reality diminishes as she dwells within her misery. This frame of mind assists her attempts of blocking her lost love from proceeding in his current life by lying and even attempting to have him hypnotized into marrying her. This takes place as she tries to convince her former lover that he should return to her. However, he continues to resist and provides her with glimpse into another woman’s boudoir. Her costume further deconstructs from here.

By the end of the film, her dress is dusty and ripped. Dogs in poverty-stricken streets follow the edges of this dress complementing it with more tears. Her skin bears the pale equivalent of a corpse. She is among the walking dead. At this point of the film, she lacks the mental capacity of even acknowledging her lost love on the street. She is in fact gone. She has completely retired from reality.