Emil Miller
04-24-2013, 04:21 PM
I read this book principally on account of the filmed version entitled Goodbye Again, as I wanted to see how close to the novel it was.
Francoise Sagan was a clever writer of stories concerning affairs of the heart and the psychological implications for the protagonists.
In Aimez-vous Brahms, she relates the triangular relationship between a woman of 39, her long-time lover of roughly the same age and a young man of 25.
Roger, the older man, is in business. He has a roving eye and uses his work as an excuse to occasionally disappear with other women. Already feeling insecure about her age, the woman knows what he is like but she is too emotionally involved with him to break up the relationship. She too has a business as an interior decorator and it is while visiting a client that she meets the the client's feckless young son Simon who, despite the difference in their ages, becomes besotted with her. At first she treats his attentions as bordering on a schoolboy crush but he pursues her with a tenacity that eventually wears down her resistance because she is feeling lonely and his youthfulness makes her want to recapture something of her own youth. Roger isn't pleased with this turn of events and decides to leave her to the younger man, but as time passes she knows that it can't go on as she and Roger miss each other too much. Eventually she has to break with Simon even though she knows it will be devastating for him. As with other Sagan novels, the Parisian background is deftly handled and although the novel is very short at 125pp., the obvious problems posed by such an untenable situation are convincingly portrayed with the flair for which the writer was celebrated.
The film incidentally was a very faithful adaptation with excellent casting and directed by Anatole Litvak in great style that perfectly captures the atmosphere of the novel. For my part, it couldn't fail on account of music by my favourite composer and film of my favourite city; albeit one that has since been architecturally vandalised by vainglorious politicians.
http://youtu.be/WCBoz0ls57k
Francoise Sagan was a clever writer of stories concerning affairs of the heart and the psychological implications for the protagonists.
In Aimez-vous Brahms, she relates the triangular relationship between a woman of 39, her long-time lover of roughly the same age and a young man of 25.
Roger, the older man, is in business. He has a roving eye and uses his work as an excuse to occasionally disappear with other women. Already feeling insecure about her age, the woman knows what he is like but she is too emotionally involved with him to break up the relationship. She too has a business as an interior decorator and it is while visiting a client that she meets the the client's feckless young son Simon who, despite the difference in their ages, becomes besotted with her. At first she treats his attentions as bordering on a schoolboy crush but he pursues her with a tenacity that eventually wears down her resistance because she is feeling lonely and his youthfulness makes her want to recapture something of her own youth. Roger isn't pleased with this turn of events and decides to leave her to the younger man, but as time passes she knows that it can't go on as she and Roger miss each other too much. Eventually she has to break with Simon even though she knows it will be devastating for him. As with other Sagan novels, the Parisian background is deftly handled and although the novel is very short at 125pp., the obvious problems posed by such an untenable situation are convincingly portrayed with the flair for which the writer was celebrated.
The film incidentally was a very faithful adaptation with excellent casting and directed by Anatole Litvak in great style that perfectly captures the atmosphere of the novel. For my part, it couldn't fail on account of music by my favourite composer and film of my favourite city; albeit one that has since been architecturally vandalised by vainglorious politicians.
http://youtu.be/WCBoz0ls57k