Madeleine Férat

Madeleine Férat is an 1868 novel by the French writer Émile Zola.

In 1920 it was turned into an Italian silent film Maddalena Ferat directed by Roberto Roberti and Febo Mari and starring Francesca Bertini.

Written immidiately after Therese Raquin (the novel which put Zola on the map), Madeleine Ferat deals with a beautiful woman in love with her husband William, but hopelessly attracted to her former lover, Jacques. This obsession leads to the destruction of her life, her marriage, and eventually drives her to suicide, while her husband, for his part, goes insane.