A tragic romantic masterpiece that was a box office failure in its home country
In short: François Truffaut’s 1971 film Two English Girls is a haunting, delicate exploration of love, obsession, and artistic betrayal. Adapted from Henri-Pierre Roché’s novel, the story follows Claude Roc and his complex, shifting relationships with two sisters. Despite its later critical acclaim, the film was initially a commercial disappointment in France.
Set in 1902, the narrative begins when Claude Roc visits the Welsh coast, where he meets sisters Anne and Muriel Brown. While Claude and Muriel fall in love, their mothers enforce a year-long separation to test their commitment. This forced distance, combined with Claude’s focus on his business and artistic pursuits in Paris, leads to a series of broken engagements and complicated affairs. Claude eventually enters a non-exclusive relationship with Anne, while Muriel struggles with her own emotional turmoil, including the publication of her private diary by Claude against her wishes.
The film captures the disintegration of these lives through a series of tragic turns. Anne, who pursues sculpture in Paris, eventually falls ill and dies in Wales. Muriel, after a final encounter with Claude, realizes he is fundamentally unsuited for marriage and moves on to become a schoolteacher. The story concludes in the 1920s, with Claude as a successful, unmarried author who remains haunted by the memory of the sisters and the life he might have had with Muriel.
Truffaut, who also provided the film’s narration, viewed the project with deep personal investment. Following its poor domestic reception, he spent years refining the work, ultimately restoring 20 minutes of footage to better flesh out the characters. This restoration was completed just before his death in 1984 and released in 1985. Critics like Tom Wiener have noted that these additions significantly improved the film, which currently holds an 87% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Albert Johnson, writing in 1972, famously compared the film’s poignant, colorful aesthetic to an enamel brooch by Lalique, cementing its status as a work of cinema-perfection.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Two English Girls
- Also: Wikidata — Two English Girls · CC0
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