BBC RADIO 4
Claudine Toutoungi’s adaptation of Delphine de Vigan’s psychological thriller about an obsessive female friendship. Delphine is suffering from crippling writer’s block when she meets L.
Directed by Gemma Jenkins.
Delphine’s writer’s block is a result of the double-edged response to her last book. As her crisis progresses, Delphine encounters the enigmatic L at a party. L is intimately familiar with Delphine’s work; an admirer who quickly insinuates herself into Delphine’s life. Delphine realises that L’s insistent desire to get her working again may not be as benevolent as it appears.
De Vigan has made her name writing “autobiographical fiction”. She questions the place of the writer in our society of imitation and fake news. In this novel she blurs memoir and fiction to the extent that at every turn the audience is made to question where truth ends and fantasy begins.
The idea threading through the plot and feeding the final revelations is who has the power – or the right – to tell someone else’s story. Listen at BBC Four