Armchair Escapism 18

BOOKS

The Road to the City, Natalia Ginzburg

Ginzburg is one of the greatest Italian 20th century writers whose work is sparing, raw and unsentimental yet deeply emotive and emotional. The Road to the City is a short novella centred on the life of Delia, a 17 year old girl who hates her rural existence in Italy in the early 1900s. She dreams of a life in the city associating it with independence and glamour. When Delia accidentally falls pregnant out of wedlock, she hopes that this will lead to a ticket to freedom but instead she grapples with challenges that she seems incapable of facing. Ginzburg’s portrayal is unsympathetic and restrained and we eagerly turn each page to discover the fate of Delia, and those who surround her. 

A Waiter in Paris: Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City, Edward Chisholm

‘When you’re in Paris you couldn’t care less about anywhere else. Your world shrinks; its the centre of your universe. There is nowhere else.’ In this gripping memoir, Chisholm reveals his escapades living as an expat in the intoxicating and all-consuming French capital. As a young waiter, working in one of the city’s most prominent restaurants, he has an exclusive access to the two sides of Paris; the glittering and glamorous sheen, as well as the dark and gritty underbelly. The writing is vivid and tense, filled with determination and hunger. It demonstrates the lengths we will go to live the dream often getting blinded by the headlights in the process. 

South from Granada, Gerald Brenan

In this memoir, British writer Gerald Brenan recounts his years living in a remote Andalusian village in the 1920s. In his desire to escape from his usual existence, he immerses himself into the customs, beliefs and daily struggles of his new community which comprises mainly of impoverished peasants. With clarity and empathy, he describes village life, its social hierarchies, religious heart, economic struggles and Brenan’s own role as the outsider. Its a compelling read of a period on the verge of modernisation and civil war, capturing its hardships and dignities. 

FILMS
The Spanish Apartment

Student Xavier flees a stifling life in Paris to spend an Erasmus year in Barcelona. He finds an apartment which she shares with other young adults all from different countries in Europe and all on their own path of self-discovery. Xavier settles into his new Spanish life, though his course does not always run smooth. What ensues is a succession of cultural clashes, romantic entanglements, language barriers, and hilarious tribulations which feel relatable and endearing. While Xavier’s time in Barcelona challenges him, it also broadens his horizons and the film is a wonderful testament to the calamities of youth and the path of self-discovery.

Le Sauvage (1975)

Though this film is set on a remote Caribbean island, the film oozes with Mediterranean glamour and an iconic Franco-Italian cast. Nelly (Catherine Deneuve) and Martin (Yves Montand) have a chance encounter and end up stranded together on the island. Constantly at each other’s throats, Nelly’s urban Parisian upbringing clashes with Martin’s easy-going self-sufficient lifestyle. A series of comedic mishaps ensues and, in a tale as old as time, it appears that Nelly and Martin have more in common with another than they initially thought. 

And God Created Woman

At the end of December, the world said goodbye to the Queen of the Cote d’Azure, Brigitte Bardot. Her breakthrough role in ‘And God Created Woman’ solidified her status as an international icon. Bardot represented female sexual liberation, and an era of hedonism and pleasure with the French Riviera as her backdrop. In this film, Bardot plays Juliette, a wild femme fatale who frolics through sun-drenched Saint Tropez while men fall at her feet. She continuously shirks all social conventions and in doing so, captures the particular attentions of millionaire Eric Carradine, his older brother Michel, and the young Antoine. Jealousy and desire ignite a determination in the men to capture Juliette’s affections which are no match for her untameable spirit.