What European novel would you like to see made into a movie?
 

We've all been talking about our favorite movies set in Europe...how about novels that SHOULD be made into movies? Who would you cast?
I'll start...my vote goes for Maupassant's Bel Ami. Technically it already *has* been made into a move (with Angela Lansbury) but it was terrible and completely murdered the original novel (in the movie, Bel Ami DIES in the duel while in the novel he survives and goes on his merry way). I'd pick Jude Law for the title character, Jean Reno for the scheming publisher.
Second choice would be George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. Stars are up for grabs, but I'd love to stick Hugh Grant in there somewhere.
Both books are surpisingly contemporary--much of what they said about ambition, cynicism, politics, journalism, money, work, homelessness, etc., still ring true.
Your turn!

I'll be a party pooper here. I wouldn't want any of my favorite books made into a movie. When I read a book, *I* am the casting director, the scenery designer, the cinematographer... The book is forever changed for me after I see the movie. Same with music, I usually like the song better before I see the video. Bah humbug : )

The Coffee Trader : )

Nutella, you go girl! Could not agree more, movies are taking away our greatest gift: our own imagination!

1,000 Days in Venice.

I somewhat agree that making a book into a movie can spoil it, but I think filmmakers are getting better. My daughter just saw "I Capture the Castle" and said that all of the characters were exactly as she had imagined.

One book that would make a wonderful movie is "The Rose Grower" by Michelle de Kretser, which takes place in the Dordogne during the French Revolution. The costumes, the scenery, the action (it opens with a hot-air balloon coming down in the family estate)--it could be wonderful.

I'd love to see a movie of Fool's Gold, by Jane S. Smith (which maybe isn't technically a European novel, because the author is American, but I'm stretching the definition to include any novel set in Europe.) It's about an American family who rent a house in Provence and have a decidedly un-Peter-Mayle-like experience there. It's very, very funny (it satirizes the art world and the academic world, in a mostly good-natured way), it has a big cast of characters, and there's plenty of action, with several subplots that are all tied up at the end in a very satisfying way.

P.S. - Cluny, I also loved The Rose Grower and think it would make a great movie. I see that Michelle de Kretser has written another novel, called The Hamilton Case, which sounds very different (it's set in Ceylon, in the 1930's). As far as I can tell, it has been published only in England so far, not in the U.S. I'm wondering if it would be worth buying a copy the next time I'm in London; have you by any chance read it, or do you know anything about it?

Bree,
I'd noticed that she's written this new one; the reviews have been very good. I just checked out the on-line book sellers. It's out in paperback in the UK, but I can still only get it in hard cover in Canada. Interestingly, Amazon.ca has it, Amazon.com doesn't.

Thanks for mentioning The Rose Grower! I went down to Waterstone's in central Brussels to get a copy but it wasn't in stock. It's been ordered and should arrive in about two weeks. It sounds like a great read.

It's a silly, funny, but lighthearted book written by Sophie Kinsella, called "Confessions of a Shopaholic" but it takes place throughout London, and is the tale of Becky Bloomwood. Anyone that loves to shop in London might get a kick out of this book. I can imagine Renee Zelwegger playing the lead character, and it would be the ultimate chick flick. By the way, this is the first book in a trilogy; the other two are "A Shopaholic Takes New York" and "A Shopaholic Gets Married".

I'll go cheesy & say "Cry to Heaven". (I could have been classy & said "The Red & the Black" or the Charterhouse of Parma" but what the heck!)

BC

Any of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series but especially HMS Surprise and Mauritius Command.

Bookchick, I'll go with the Parmesan. I love "Cry to Heaven" but can't imagine who would play the lead. Michael Jackson? Ewwwwwwwww.

Flaubert's <i>A Sentimental Education</i>, because it has everything -- love, wild parties and debauchery, political uprising, satire of every class of society. It would be a great period piece. Not sure who to cast as the &quot;hero.&quot; Someone young, handsome, earnest, but also a bit foolish and immature.

Beowulf - That way every high school kid stuck with having to read it could cheat and watch the movie version instead. Come to think of it, wasn't Antonio Banderas' &quot;The Thirteenth Warrior&quot; the same thing?

<u>Madame Bovary</u>. <u>Le P&egrave;re Goriot</u>. <u>And Quiet Flows the Don.</u>

BTW, skilled directors can film in such a way that one's imagination <i>amplifies</i> the action on the screen. Remember when Clyde's brother got shot in <i>Bonny and Clyde</i>? You didn't see it, but his wife screamed &quot;Buck's got shot in the eye!&quot;

Imagining it was worse than seeing it, and Arthur Penn knew it.

&quot;McCarthy's Bar&quot; &amp; I will volunteer to play the lead.

Brother of the more famous Jack by Barbara Trapido is one of the best love stories I've ever read.

Or...can I cheat and have a half and half? &quot;No Great Mischief&quot; by Alistair Macleod is set in Canada but is about the effect of the Clearances on a Scots family; and is fantastic

Robespierre: These novels have all been filmed several times. Madame Bovary has many film versions, including those by such distinguished directors as Claude Chabrol, Vincente Minelli and Jean Renoir. Pere Goriot was filmed for TV as recently as last year with Charles Aznavour as Goriot, and had a number of film versions before that. And Quiet Flows the Don was filmed twice. I remember seeing the latest (1957) version when it was released in N. America.

Any suggestions on who should make the new versions?

Never mind. I misread the premise and skipped the detail. But if you want to know what movies of European novels I'd like to see, I do have a fairly long list.

Robespierre: Please, post your list!

Here are a few of mine for starters:

&quot;The Seville Communion&quot; Arturo Perez Reverte.

&quot;Birdsong&quot; Sebastian Faulks

&quot;An Instance of the Fingerpost&quot; Iain Pears

I finished re-reading &quot;Caravan to Vaccares.&quot; When I first read this book, I pictured Sean Connery in the lead, an but that was so long ago, he is now too old. (must be a brit)

Cry to Heaven! I just love that book! And any good actor could play the lead. That's why it's acting.

Cauly Culkin!

Not a novel, but a true-life adventure:
Valley in Italy: The Many Seasons of a Villa in Umbria by Lisa St Aubin De Teran. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...s&amp;n=507846

She is a wonderful writer and an endearing, but strange person. Not in the least like the other “move to Italy and restore an old farmhouse” type. While you wait to see the movie, read ALL of her books, you will not be disappointed.

&quot;Cry to Heaven&quot; - LOVED it!!! There ARE recordings, not very good ones, of the castratii recorded in the early 20th century?

Regards Ger

Another book, I'd like to see as film is the &quot;Fly-Truffler&quot; by Sobin. Daniel Autiel (sp?) as the Prof.
Charlotte Gainsbourg as the girl.

Nutella, one film that was better than the book, was &quot;Room at the Top,&quot; with Laurence Harvey and Simone Signoret.

Mimi, I remember when that movie came out -- and was considered so steamy! I say &quot;considered&quot; because I don't think I got to see it. Wonder if it's still around.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...ance&amp;s=dvd
this is one of the best reviews and the comment by George Carlin is so today.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Peter Jackson for director. I'll have to think about the actors. There would be many!

Let me second Btilke's post on Down and Out in Paris and London. I just read it and it's a fine read with interesting characters- Bozo, Paddy and Boris. But I disagree about Hugh Grant as the Orwell character. A younger Jeremy Irons or Ben Cross would be best-I don't know who fits that bill today.

I would also like Orwell's Coming Up for Air to be filmed. Any portly 45 year old British actors out there for the role of George Bowling?

I second Pillars of the Earth.

Also The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox set in Burgundy.

And the Italian classic The Leopard.

The Leopard was made into a film and starred Burt Lancaster.

Pillars of the Earth: Angelina Jolie as the mother who lives in the woods (forgot the character name and have lent out the book)

Funny to see this come up again. I would still like to see Down &amp; Out in London &amp; Paris made into a movie (note to GeorgeW: I said I wanted HG to appear in the movie somewhere, not necessarily as the Orwell character).
Another vote for Pillars of the Earth, but I thought there had been plans to turn it into a movie or UK tv mini-series but that the plans fell through. It's such a massive book, I think it would work better as a BBC/PBS series than as a movie--you'd have to cut too much to squash it into a two hour movie.

The Satanic Verses would be interesting....

I'd like to see someone have a go at London Fields by Martin Amis.

The Rebus books would make good films (they make pretty good TV)

RE: Down and Out in Paris and London
Leonardo DeCaprio as Bozo. John Lynch as Paddy. Max von Snydow as Boris. ____ as Orwell.

Thanks, cigalechanta. I had no idea. I'll put it on my Netflix list. I loved the book.

Andrei Makine's &quot;Le Testament Francais&quot;; I bought the paperback by that name at LGW, and despite the French name, it was in English. In USA, I think it is known as &quot;Tales of My Russian Summer.&quot;