I'm a bit of a Front Row addict; Mark Lawson's smooth tones, straight after my nightly Archers fix, often capture my attention. Last night I was tipped off about the release of the film of Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog which the book group read in September 2009. Inevitably, the title has been changed (why?) and so the film is The Hedgehog. The rather haughty Parisian reviewer was not enthusiastic; she had played in a concierge's apartment as a child and it was not gloomy, Paloma's precocity is hard to comprehend, the film "did not take off" and there was nothing to help the viewer understand the attraction between the concierge (Renee Michel) and the rich and enigmatic M. Ozu. If true, that has to be something to do with seeing the characters rather than imagining them. From the book we knew that Mme. Michel was ugly, fat, smelly (I think) and always wore the same clothes; I have in mind a sort of rotund Nanny McPhee warty face with sprouting hairs wearing a dull apron/dress combo. However, Mme Michel's physical appearance becomes insignificant as we discovers that she has a rich intellectual inner life. It is perfectly feasible, in print at least, for M. Ozu to be attracted to her and her to him. I think I may stick with the book.
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