France 2 is broadcasting this Monday, October 17 the first episodes of “La Jeune fille et la nuit”, the series adapted from the literary work of Guillaume Musso. Is this TV version different from that of the bestselling book?
Monday October 17, 2022, France 2 launches the broadcast of the series The Girl and the Night. In the casting, viewers find some familiar faces with in particular Ioan Gruffud (forever), Ivanna Sakhno (The spy who dumped me), Gregory Fitoussi (time is killer) or Vahina Giocante (SCAM France).
An adaptation of a bestselling novel
Here, the story begins on the Côte d’Azur, during the winter of 1997. In a prestigious campus frozen under the snow, a young girl is carried away by the night… Three friends then find themselves bound by a tragic secret.
In the spring of 2022, once inseparable, Fanny, Thomas and Maxime have never spoken to each other since Vinca disappeared that winter night in 1997. When, 25 years later, Thomas decides to break this silence by going to a meeting of Former students of Saint-Exupéry high school, he will, without knowing it, endanger the lives of all those around him, starting with that of Maxime.
Because that night in December 1996, Thomas and Maxime committed a murder and immured the body in the high school gymnasium which will be destroyed in the coming days. How will the two friends manage to cope with the situation? Everything seems to be linked to Vinca’s disappearance. Disappearance to which Thomas still does not want to resolve…
Adapted from the best-selling eponymous novel by Guillaume Musso. The Young Girl and the Night is a fiction that is divided into six 52-minute episodes. But will this transposition on the small screen satisfy readers of the original work? Does the TV version really vary from the book?
A plot transposed with fidelity
During a press conference, the author and Sydney Gallonde, the producer of the series, spoke about the few differences that exist between the two formats. They nonetheless strongly emphasized that while the plot flow is more choral than in the novel, it remains essentially the same.
As Sydney Gallonde explains: “We were able to find a way for all the characters to advance the plot and not just the main protagonist. This is what makes it a true original creation.“A notorious change, therefore, but which Guillaume Musso did not perceive as an affront to his work.
Indeed, the writer reveals to accept “a piece of betrayal“in the process of adaptation:”It is a complementarity. My version of the story, I wrote it and it was read by millions of people. My novel exists and will continue to live.“
“I know that there are readers who want a simple setting in images or that one scrupulously respects the work. It is their right, does he recognize. But when I like a book and I go to see the adaptation, I don’t necessarily expect it to be a simple transposition. I’m very comfortable with that.“
Musso assures his readers will be satisfied
Despite this distinction, Guillaume Musso points out that the television version of La Jeune fille est la nuit is mainly modeled on his novel: “I spend my time refusing adaptations (…) These are often requests for the wrong reasons. With Sydney, it was for good reason.“
“From the moment you know that the spirit of the novel will be respected, the rest are details. I am convinced that overall readers will be happy“, says the author. A result to see from 9:10 p.m. on France 2, Monday, October 17.