Book description
A razor-sharp and achingly funny memoir of the men and movies that
shaped one woman's life…
A unique memoir, 'Madame Depardieu and the Beautiful Strangers' is the
story of how a young female film critic's love-life is affected and
nearly ruined by her obsession with male movie stars. As her
increasingly hapless hunt for the right man unfolds and her television
and newspaper career unravels, our heroine finally begins to understand
that difficult truth: that life is not like the movies.
Entwined with the narrative of her real-life love affairs is a
kaleidoscope of digressions on great screen actors - her dream-life with
Gerard Depardieu, a personal ad seeking out Tom Cruise, a disastrous
climactic encounter with Jeff Bridges. It's a helter skelter ride
through love and the movies which reads like a screwball comedy. And the
screwball is our heroine, who seems to know everything about movies and
the human heart, and nothing about anything else.
Written in a fresh and utterly engaging voice, 'Madame Depardieu and
the Beautiful Strangers' is both moving and hilarious, a bittersweet and
endearingly honest one-off. 'Antonia's book is wonderfully written…The
Drunk in Edinburgh and the Boyfriend and the Car are brilliant and
underneath the (deliberately) purple prose about actors is a real, and
to me, moving understanding of the craft. Please pass these words on -
it is a rare and daring book.' Alan Rickman
'Quirke comes across as a disarming mix of David Thomson and Jenny
Diski, all the while remaining unique and idiosyncratic.' Waterstones
Books Quarterly
'…a mad, marvellous film-crazed memoir… Quirke is a young film critic
of eccentric brilliance…beautifully written, shamelessly honest and
deeply comical… Quirke's wry self awareness is extremely funny.' Sunday Times
'This memoir is ditsy, great fun and clever to boot. It'll remind you
of all the great movies you've seen and many you've meant to, but, most
of all, of the one playing inside your own head.' Grove Magazine
'It is a terrific read and contains some of the best writing about
actors I've encountered… I should have put it aside as unsuitable for my
purposes after just 15 minutes but kept giving myself a few more pages,
and then a few more, instead of getting down to work. So, if the above
strikes you as hastily unfinished, blame (Antonia Quirke).' Independent
Antonia Quirke is a journalist and lives in London. Her first book
'Jaws' was published by the BFI in 2003.
