The narrator is a beautiful actress. She is at once confident in her talent and her beauty, and deeply insecure: the archetypal performer. At times contradictory and unreliable, the narrator - whose name we never learn - draws the reader into a world of memories, fantasies and impressions, never revealing herself completely. She constantly teases the reader, who remains torn between what is truth and what is reality. And at the same time we are led to wonder whether Marceau's novel is wholly autobiographical or whether she is leading us up the garden path on a grand scale. Through her beautifully crafted prose, Sophie Marceau has written a compelling exploration of female identity.