Les Beaux Jours will have you Dreaming of France #book2movies

Study French!  I sorely regret my inability to hold onto the French drilled into me back when I was a young girl in Canada and that I abandoned French for Spanish when we moved to California. Much more practical, oui, but now that I'm a much older girl I'd love to read Fanny Chesnel's Une jeune fille aux cheveaux blancs (A girl with gray hair) but it's only available in the original French. 

Luckily, the book, the story of a love affair between a man and a much older woman, has been adapted by director Marion Vernoux along with the author, into the film Les Beaux Jours which morphs into Bright Days Ahead in English.  And luckily, the dealmakers at Tribeca Films snapped the film up at TIFF last week. No release date for the states yet but the film was so well received in France, there's talk that it may break out from its' French art house box. Bright Days Ahead stars Fanny Ardant as Caroline, the older woman searching for something more, Laurent Lafitte as Julien, the young lover and Patrick Chesnais as Caroline's slightly suspicious hubby. The story begins with Caroline's visit to a nearby senior center -- named "Les Beaux jours,"  where she apparently finds Julien, the computer teacher, much more appealing than ceramics and community theater.

A bit of a reverse twist on the usual May - December romance stories where the man is much older ala Mr. Morgan's Last Love starring Michael Caine and Clemence Poesy. Anyone remember 40 Carats with Liv Ullman and Edward Albert about the 40 year old woman who falls in love with a 20something while on vacation in Greece? I vaguely recall that was a fairly yummy guilty pleasure. Romance and a glamorous locale? What could be better. The fact that this particular May December romance movie is set in a French seaside town makes it all the more alluring.

Les Beaux Jours /Bright Days Ahead trailer

Cinematographer Nicolas Gaurin (Cold Showers) captures the intimate Nord Pas-de-Calais locations, and the score is by Czech composer Quentin Sirjacq. Take a look at the trailer; can you wait for the release date, especially if you are 'a girl with gray hair'.

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