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‘Colette’ tells the story of the French writer who is pushed by her husband Willy to write novels under his name. Keira Knightley plays Colette, evolving from innocent girl to worldly author who has to fight for her rights;  Dominic West does a great turn as the bounder Willy.

It’s on BBC iPlayer for another 24 days, and well worth watching.

Also on iPlayer is ‘I Got Life‘, ‘Aurore’ in the French version, one of those low-key, low-budget French films that offers an engaging story, well-acted.

The lead, played by Agnes Jaoui, is struggling with unemployment, impending grandmotherhood as well as hot flushes; into her life arrives her handsome ex, played by Thibaut de Montalembert, who you may recognise from his turn as an agency  boss in ‘Call My Agent’, (Netflix). Will Aurore muddle through to find happiness?

Speed is of the essence though as this is only available until Tuesday 13th April.

Finally, I remember watching ‘French Kiss’ when it came out in 1995 and, in need of a light-hearted diversion, decided to track it down. I had forgotten how funny/silly it is, but also how the story takes the characters to the south of France.

The plot has American Meg Ryan flying to France in pursuit of an unfaithful fiancé;  and during the journey, she meets up with a French jewel-thief, Kevin Kline on wonderful form.  After shenanigans in Paris, the action moves south….(no, the Paris-Nice train really doesn’t go right past the Eiffel Tower) … but they arrive safely and filming takes place at the Val Joanis vineyard in Pertuis, Valbonne village, and finally Cannes. I also saw on the credits that there was even footage filmed at the old station at Meyrargues which always looks like a place time forgot.

The good news is that it’s as funny as I remembered and left me feeling very happy – pure escapism on a chilly evening.  The bad news is I couldn’t find it on any of the streaming services or You Tube, and ended up getting a DVD from Amazon;  but I was very glad I tracked it down.