Bel Ami

The film Bel Ami opens in cinemas across the UK this weekend.  Starring Robert Pattinson and Uma Thurman it is adapted from the classic novel of the same name by 19th century French novelist Guy de Maupassant. The film critic in the Daily Mail complains that the hero Georges is not a very likeable character but he was not intended to be.  The book is not, as many people thought and evidently still do, autobiographical although it was set in a world that Maupassant knew well - the world of the 'free press' with its seedy relationships with politicians and the corrupt world of bankers who were only interested in turning a profit and lining their pockets - all of which sounds painfully familiar today.

Maupassant's own life - which is the theme of my book The Lady in Grey was very different.  I have sneakily used the subtitle 'The story of the Real Bel Ami' to suggest the 'smart,sexy and scandalous' tag used by the film-makers but I am guiltily aware that he would not like it.  He got quite cross when people called him Bel-Ami as if he and his eponymous hero were one and the same.  Georges is a satirical portrait of a social climbing type that he did not personally like.  The 'De' in his name was genuine although his rather odd up-bringing was more middle-class than aristocratic.  Georges makes his background up. 

From the Franco-Prussian war to the glitz and glamour of the Riviera Maupassant's life was dramatic and fascinating.  If you want to read more The Lady in Grey is available in a Kindle Edition and in paperback from www.createspace.com or www.amazon.co.uk