La Femme Fardee

THE PAINTED LADY Rights sold to: Russia (Eksmo) On board the Narcissus, the cruise arranged in honour of the diva Dorriaccie is beginning to feel like a romantic drama. Secret passions are growing among the ranks of bourgeois characters and ruffling the urbane feeling of calm. There is the French starlet Olga Lamouroux, the last protégée of filmmaker Simon Béart; the wealthy Edma Baute-Lebrêche and her boring husband Armand; Julien Peyrat, the effortlessly charming auctioneer; the young Andréas Fayard, a professional gigolo; and, lastly, Eric Lethuillier, editor in chief of a "left wing" newspaper, escorted by his shy wife Clarisse. The latter, influenced by her overbearing husband, tries in vain to disguise her insecurities beneath excessive make-up. She is the "painted lady" who intrigues and touches other people in equal measures. While Eric openly appears in public with Olga, Clarisse succumbs to adulterous passion in Julien's arms. The tension escalates, and shows of decorum - which are not enough to hide baser feelings - become as pitiful as they are burlesque. With operatic arias playing in the background, the masks fall one after the other, leaving one inevitable question: does bourgeois pride leave any room for love?
In The Painted Lady, drama simmers on every page. Although it never actually breaks, the tension is palpable and finds its only catharsis in music, which is sometimes lascivious and sensual, and often violent.
This book reverberates with Sagan's distinctively spirited and abrasive tone. With this bitter view of the higher echelons of society, she gives us vitriolic social satire. She sheds the most incisive light on themes she holds dear: love, happiness and the fragile offhandedness that brings them to glory. At nineteen, Françoise Sagan enjoyed huge acclaim with Bonjour Tristesse, followed by many plays and novels, all of which were well received. She wrote her own obituary for the Dictionary of Authors, compiled by Jérôme Garcin: "Appeared in 1954 with a slender novel, Bonjour Tristesse, which created a scandal worldwide. Her death, after a life and a body of work that were equally pleasant and botched, was a scandal only for herself." The unprecedented success of Toxique, published by Stock in autumn 2009, is ample proof of the tremendous enthusiasm Françoise Sagan still arouses. Éditions Stock are continuing to publish all of Sagan's titles from the 1970s and 1980s.