estate in Poland. However, a friend of the father, the Baron de T***, manipulates Adolphe into promising to break with Ellénore for the sake of his career. The letter which contains the promise is forwarded to Ellénore and the shock leads to her death. Adolphe loses interest in life, and the alienation with which the book began returns in a more serious form. Controversy The novel was partly inspired by Constant's relationships with Madame de Staël and Charlotte von Hardenberg, and at the time of its publication it was widely assumed to be a roman à clef. Constant was indignant and wrote a letter to the Morning Chronicle of London (23 June 1816) denying any such correspondence between fiction and life, and these objections animate his preface to the second edition. Framing letters written by an "editor" serve to distance the author from the work. However, close parallels between figures in his autobiography and characters in the novel have led to a great deal of speculation ever since. Film adaptation The novel was adapted in 1968 into a film version Adolphe ou l'Âge tendre directed by Bernard Toublanc-Michel, starring Ulla Jacobsson, Jean-Claude Dauphin, and Philippe Noiret. The novel was adapted into a 2002 film directed by Benoît Jacquot and starring Isabelle Adjani as Ellénore. References External links Adolphe, audio version 1816 French novels French autobiographical novels Psychological novels French novels adapted into films Roman à clef novels