BOOK 188: THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG: MURIEL BARBERY

BOOK 188: THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG: MURIEL BARBERY

The Elegance of the Hedgehog (French: L'Élégance du hérisson) is a novel by the French novelist and philosophy teacher Muriel Barbery. The book follows events in the life of a concierge, Renée Michel, whose deliberately concealed intelligence is uncovered by an unstable but intellectually precocious girl named Paloma Josse. Paloma is the daughter of an upper-class family living in the upscale Parisian apartment building where Renée works.

Featuring a number of erudite characters, The Elegance of the Hedgehog is full of allusions to literary works, music, films, and paintings. It incorporates themes relating to philosophy, class consciousness, and personal conflict. The events and ideas of the novel are presented through the thoughts and reactions, interleaved throughout the novel, of two narrators, Renée and Paloma. The changes of narrator are marked by switches of typeface. In the case of Paloma, the narration takes the form of her written journal entries and other philosophical reflections; Renée's story is also told in the first person but more novelistically and in the present tense.

First released in August 2006 by Gallimard, the novel became a publishing success in France the following year, selling over two million copies. It has been translated into more than forty languages, and published in numerous countries outside France, including the United Kingdom (Gallic Books, London) and the United States (Europa Editions, New York), and has attracted critical praise.

CRITICAL REVIEWS

The Elegance of the Hedgehog was well received by critics. In the earliest known review, for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Maurizio Bono writes that "[t]he formula that made more than half a million readers in France fall in love with [The Elegance of the Hedgehog] has, among other ingredients: intelligent humor, fine sentiments, an excellent literary and philosophical backdrop, taste that is sophisticated but substantial" French magazine Ellereviewer Natalie Aspesi pronounced it one of "the most exhilarating and extraordinary novels in recent years". Aspesi, however, tagged the novel's title as "most curious and least appealing". Praising the novel in his review for The Guardian, Ian Samson wrote that "The Elegance of the Hedgehog aspires to be great and pretends to philosophy: it is, at least, charming." In an earlier review in the same paper, Groskop opined that the novel is a "profound but accessible book ... which elegantly treads the line between literary and commercial fiction". She added that "clever, informative and moving, it is essentially a crash course in philosophy interwoven with a platonic love story". A review in The Telegraph conjectured that "[i]f [the novel were] a piece of furniture, it would be an IKEA bestseller: popular, but not likely to be passed down the generations". A review in The Times Literary Supplement went further, calling the book "pretentious and cynical, with barely any story. It reads more like a tract than a novel, but lacks even a tract's certainty of purpose. The characters are problematic: most are puppets, and those that aren’t are stereotypes".

Michael Dirda of The Washington Post complimented Barbery, saying, "Certainly, the intelligent Muriel Barbery has served readers well by giving us the gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bittersweet Elegance of the Hedgehog." Louise McCready of The New York Observer praised Anderson's translation of the novel as "smooth and accurate". Caryn James of The New York Times hailed the novel as "studied yet appealing commercial hit", adding that it "belongs to a distinct subgenre: the accessible book that flatters readers with its intellectual veneer".[7] Los Angeles Times' Susan Salter Reynolds wrote that "[The Elegance of the Hedgehog] is a high-wire performance; its characters teeter on the surreal edge of normalcy. Their efforts to conceal their true natures, the pressures of the solitary mind, make the book hum".

FILM ADAPTATION

The novel was adapted into a film The Hedgehog (Le hérisson) released in France in July 2009, starring Josiane Balasko as Renée Michel, Garance Le Guillermic as Paloma Josse, and Togo Igawa as Kakuro Ozu, with a score by Gabriel Yared. The rights for the film were bought by NeoClassics Film and it was released by the company in America on 19 August. Its reception at festivals was positive and it won the Filmfest DC 2011, the Best of Fest Palm Springs 2011, the Seattle International Film Festival 2010, and the 2010 Col-Coa Film Festival. Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times called it "Whimsical and touching... Mona Achache's adaptation is wistful perfection". Stephen Holden of The New York Times said it "suggests a sort of Gallic Harold and Maude".

FILM 1543: GIGI 

TRIVIA: The cat in the movie reacted violently whenever it was in a scene with Leslie Caron, but director Vincente Minnelli insisted on having that particular cat, so it had to be heavily drugged. This is especially obvious during "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight".

When Alan Jay Lerner met Leslie Caron in London to discuss the film with her, he was surprised to discover that Caron, who was of French birth, had become so immersed in the English culture that she had lost her French accent.

Several characters in Beauty and the Beast (1991) are an homage to characters in Gigi: Lumiere is a tribute to Maurice Chevalier, perfectly impersonated by Jerry Orbach. The main male protagonist's name is Gaston, with a similar air of confidence as Gaston from Gigi. When Gigi rebuffs him, it is similar to when Belle rebuffs Gaston and both sing a self righteous song of indignation. Gaston of B&B is not redeemed in the end however unlike Gigi's Gaston. Beauty and the Beast is itself a take on the classic french novel La Belle et la Bete. Though not the same source material, both being french themed, B&B pays homage to great French actors and themes past in Gigi. Watching Gigi will lead to a greater appreciation of Beauty and the Beast.

Cecil Beaton had to supply over 150 period costumes for the scene in the Bois, and 20 ornate gowns for the scene in Maxims. Beaton had difficulty procuring such a large amount of costumes in Paris but when the production moved to Hollywood, he found warehouses stuffed to bursting with period furniture and costumes.

Gaston's walk through Paris while singing "Gigi" uses camera magic to make parts of Paris which are miles apart seem adjacent to each other. This technique, called "creative geography", was created and named by French filmmaker Jean Cocteau.

The cast had to mouth the songs as production was so swift that the score had yet to recorded by the time it came to filming.

As he often did with his films, Vincente Minnelli looked toward the art world for inspiration on how each scene should look. He found inspiration in the work of French caricaturist Sem, whose sketches had been admired by Colette herself when she was writing the original characters in Gigi. For the opening sequence in the Bois du Boulogne he looked to the work of artist Constantin Guys. Boudin's work served as the inspiration for the beach sequences in Gigi. In addition, Minnelli also threw in some Art Nouveau to represent the character of Honoré Lachailles. Minelli recalled, "Our reasoning for using the influence in the settings was to show how avant garde Chevalier's character would be, using the brand-new style in his bachelor digs."

FILM 1524: WOULD YOU RATHER

TRIVIA: The movie's presenting production company, The Lambrick Foundation, has the same name as the show's fictional family foundation.

FILM 1516: TWO WEEKS NOTICE

TRIVIA: The film was originally set to film entirely in Toronto due to cheaper production costs, but producer/star Sandra Bullock insisted that a film about New York City must be made in New York City. It ended up being shot entirely on location within a 17-week span. It revitalized the economy of New York City after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and allowed businesses to flourish once again. In honor of the cast and crew's contribution to the city, December 11th, 2002 was named "Two Weeks Notice" Day by the Mayor of New York City.

Sandra Bullock orders Chinese food from a "Mr. Wong". In While You Were Sleeping (1995), she says while hoisting a Christmas tree though her window "$45 for a Christmas tree and they don't deliver? You order $10 worth of chow mein from Mr. Wong they bring it to your door." In both movies Bullock's character is named "Lucy".

The Coney Island Community Center is in fact the Childs Restaurant Building that went out of business years ago. It was designated a New York City Landmark on February 4, 2003 just one month after the movie was released.

The house George's brother lives is actually one of Donald Trump's homes. Trump lent his Westchester home to the production and filmed a cameo for the film.

British author Lynne Truss pointed out that the title of the film is grammatically incorrect. In her best-selling style book 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation', she correctly establishes that the title is missing an apostrophe ("Two Weeks' Notice"), thereby denoting proper possession of the title's subject. The original hardcover edition of 'Eats, Shoots, & Leaves' also featured Truss in her author's photo, glaring at the poster and holding a marker where the apostrophe should be.

In the scene where Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant are on her apartments roof top, eating cake, she describes her childhood past of watching the neighborhood sitting on the corners watching the kids play. She mentions a Mr. and Mrs. Goldfarb sitting in the middle of the street to save a parking spot for their kid. This is a small nod toward the movie Requiem for a Dream, where a Mrs. Goldfarb sits on the neighborhood corner in lawn chairs with her apartment lady neighbors.

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FILM 1446: ARTHUR

TRIVIA: At one point during the production, Liza Minnelli is supposed to board a bus in front of Bergdorf's on Fifth Avenue. When a real bus came along, she boarded it thinking it was the "movie bus". Not until she was halfway down the block did she realize her blunder when she looked back and saw the whole crew cracking up.

Reportedly, when Dudley Moore was doing the mansion moose head sequence, a lighting technician laughed so much that he fell off his ladder.

John Gielgud turned down the role of Hobson several times, finally accepting it only because the salary he was offered was too good to pass up.

Dudley Moore was said to have based his performance partly on Peter Cook, whose excessive drinking had soured his and Moore's comedic partnership in the '70s.

According to his widow, John Belushi was offered the role of Arthur, but ultimately turned it down, fearing typecasting.

Carrie Fisher turned down the role of Linda Marolla.

Apparently, writer-director Steve Gordon had originally wanted to cast George Segal in the lead role of Arthur. After the box-office success of 10 (1979) however, Dudley Moore replaced Segal. This movie was actually the second time that Moore replaced Segal. Segal was originally cast in the lead role in 10 (1979) but Segal apparently walked off the set shortly after filming began. Reportedly, this was rumored because Julie Andrews' role had been built up. Apparently, after 10 (1979) had been released, Segal, when once asked if he had seen the movie, allegedly replied with a finger gesture.

There are three audio cassettes on the edge of Arthur's bathtub: Bob Marley, Randy Newman, and a record-it-yourself tape.

After Linda first meets Arthur she says that he looks like one of Santa's little helpers. Dudley Moore went on to play the part of Patch one of Santa's elves in Santa Claus: The Movie in 1985.