Fear and Trembling

So at about 11.15 last night, I was sitting around, desultorily pushing words around on the screen of my laptop, when I received an sms from trang, giving me a heads' up after unexpectedly finding herself watching the film adaptation of Fear and Trembling on sbs. Happily, I'd only missed the first 15 minutes or so, and everything from the point at which I came in was sheer delight. The film really catches the sense and the air of Nothomb's book, and as such it's wry, whimsical, cutting, and faintly touched with poetry and the barest hint of sadness. In large measure, this is due to Sylvie Testud's charming turn as Amélie-san, striking the right balance between all of those elements characteristic of the film (and book) as a whole, along with a child-like obstinacy, cuteness and capacity for abandon which goes down a treat. (The actor who plays Mr Omochi is also, in his different way, exactly right - though Fubuki was less beautiful than the book suggests...which could even have been intentional given the borderline delusive aspects of Amélie-san's perspective on her superior.) It probably aided my enjoyment that I'd read the book, and that the film follows the book quite closely, but I suspect I'd have liked it heaps anyway.