Da Vinci Again

The hype to next years biggest box office hit (nothing is so certain) is tangibly building all the time. The Da Vinci Code started filming in July in Paris, and as I was there and became convinced the road behind our hotel was being used as a repository for the productions many police cars (including Bezu Fache's Citroen), my interest was piqued anew. Rarely is a film shrouded in such secrecy, but with something this huge a closed set is essential. A trip to Paris also inspired me to pick up the book again, so that I could put real images to the many locations around the city of light. It did become more vivid, but the downside was that with all the secrets revealed after the first read it becomes clear that literarily speaking it is little more than pulp fiction - a page turner still, for sure, but no classic; how they all don't figure it out much sooner is the biggest mystery of all! Ron Howard, too, concerns me - will he over-egg the romantic symbolism that surrounds the sacred feminine and will the relationship between Tom Hank's Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou's Sophie Neveu be presented in too sugary a way? Undoubtedly he will instill it with pace and excitement, but it is the general tone that bothers me, from a director far too keen on the sentimental side of life. Still around 9 months to find out. I'll have to fill the time with a few anagram puzzles or something. Kx