Virginie Grimaldi is there, discreet in a large black T-shirt and simple pants of the same color. On Moulleau beach in Arcachon, she attended the filming of an adaptation for France TV of a four-episode series inspired by one of her works “The Scent of Happiness is Stronger in the Rain”, released in 2018 ( Fayard). She wears a headset which allows her to hear with great precision the dialogue between the actors in a scene captured by the camera on the beach.
A high distribution
All around, many curious people stop, sit on benches, and watch the scene from afar. They exclaim when recognizing Michèle Bernier or Michel Boujenah. The cast is strong since it also includes Caroline Anglade, Xavier Robic, Félix Moati, Julia Faure and Alex Vizorek. Virginie Grimaldi goes almost unnoticed. Few people know the face of the most read novelist in France with Melissa Da Costa. Each of his books exceeds 800,000 copies.
She had until now refused the adaptations that had been offered to her. Why accept that of this book which is already a few years old? “I met the producer. I liked the vision she had of the subject of the book with the screenwriter, the way she approached it. » Producer Sandra Karim, also on set, evokes “a subject that touches us, a profound book, a truth that we face”.
“Great atmosphere”
Renamed more simply for these four 52-minute episodes, “The Scent of Happiness”, the adaptation dubbed by Virginie Grimaldi, tells the story of Pauline in the setting of Bordeaux and the Arcachon basin. Pauline, played by Caroline Anglade, refuses to mourn the loss of her relationship and to draw a line under her ten years of marriage to Ben. Convinced that he is the man of her life, she will do everything to win him back, even if it means bringing deeply buried secrets to the surface.
The novelist, who lives in the Bordeaux metropolis, takes the opportunity to come regularly to the set. Led by screenwriter director Baya Kasmi, already a César winner for a screenplay, it began, in accordance with the original work, in the Gironde capital. In the streets of old Bordeaux, it was necessary to recreate rain for certain scenes. From now on, the team is working until the end of the month in Moulleau and La Teste-de-Buch where production has even unearthed a house that looks exactly like the one described at the end of the book. On Moulleau beach, the lighting designer managed to give the illusion of a beautiful sun despite the gray clouds that weigh down the sky, since the Basin is the setting for part of the story which takes place on summer.
The moved novelist
“I am very happy to come to the set. The atmosphere is wonderful. I learn, I discover. Baya Kasmi creates an atmosphere of kindness that makes everyone happy to be there. » Virginie Grimaldi even confides that she had “tears in her eyes” watching certain scenes that were “so well performed”.
The whole team remains on the Basin until the end of the month. The television broadcast will normally take place next year on a date which remains to be determined.
