À coeur joie

That this film garners one terrible review after another is beyond me. Viewers must have turned up to see BB's nipples and left sorely disappointed.

In truth, A Coeur Joie (A Field Day aka Two Weeks in September) is a searing portrait of a young woman trying desperately to cling to reality whilst being swept away in the frivolity of a passionate affair abroad.

The angst drummed up by Bardot's Cecile is both stirring and utterly jarring. Has the story been told before? Sure. Has the story been told like this? Not through the eyes of such vulnerable avatars. The dialog beckons you to read between the lines. Every subtlety is captured almost impeccably from start to finish.

When the spell is broken in the last frame you are very nearly left as breathless as Cecile.

This celluloid gem glitters as it's all-but-forgotten like the best diamonds in the rough.