Simone de Beauvoir’s novella Les Inseparables was written in 1954 but remained unpublished until 2020. Its fictionalised portrayal of de Beauvoir’s childhood friendship with Elisabeth Lacoin – a foundational relationship that informed plenty of her writing, and perhaps as much of her philosophy – was too much for the writer’s partner, Jean-Paul Sartre, who “held his nose” at it.
But the yearning intensity of Sylvie (Ayesha Ostler) for her new BFF Andrée (Lara Manela) is a painfully lovely thing in this adaptation by Grace Joy Howarth. “Life without her would be death,” Sylvie proclaims, and instantly fantasises about falling down dead beside her. Andrée reads Horace, plays violin and can do the splits. What little French girl wouldn’t be smitten?
