An audio book
Richard, a writer/director of small films, 49, and wife Joanna, a producer, 47, have 2 children. They live in London. Their kids went to state school. They're depressed about the BrExit referendum outcome. Richard's writing a screenplay about Walter Benjamin, a writer who left Germany for France when the Nazis came into power and killed himself in 1940. He sees parallels between Bejamin's situation and his twilight-of-EuroBritain one. He has dialogues with Benjamin. He auditions actor Eliot, 23, for the leading role. He's at least bi. Richard and Joanna haven't had sex for a long while. Richard's never thought of himself as gay. He's drawn to Eliot and vice versa. Richard grew up in Africa. Eliot's dad died in Africa when Eliot was 15. Joanna wonders if Richard has a crush.
In the next section Joanna's directing the film. We learn that Richard suddenly died. In Italy Joanna and Eliot spend time together. They visit Richard's haughty mother in Florence. They go round giving talks about Richard's films. In New York she meets a producer friend who likes her. We have Richard's PoV - a ghost.
She looks through his photos and videos. He's taken a picture of Eliot sleeping. Eliot didn't know about it. Joanna confronts Eliot about whether he slept with Richard. She wants to use the random domestic clips as a coda to the film, as some kind of parallel to Benjamin's life. It's like French directors' temps mort when they left on the camera after saying 'Cut'. There are other comparisons between Film and Life.
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