The Bridges of Madison County earlier about "the dreams of a woman named Francesca," gave him the idea for the novella, which was completed in eleven days. After he had written "Bridges", Waller came to believe that he had based the character of Francesca Johnson on his wife, Georgia, whom Francesca physically resembles. According to Marc Eliot, Waller's novella is a modernization of the Noël Coward play "Still Life" (1934), which was adapted into David Lean's film "Brief Encounter" (1945). "Still Life" is about 'the desperation, guilt, and temptations of two married people who meet, fall in love, commit adultery, and then separate forever." In
Post Mortem (Coward play) which does not want to understand the horrors of the first world war, is not so surprising as his perception that the second is already in the making: someone actually remarks that the next Olympic games (1932) could be a preparation for it. I never imagined that the Master, at 31, was so politically switched on. The writing is a little mannered, but the young cast handles it as if it was entirely real, and Steven Pacey, as the disillusioned survivor, draws a most subtle sketch of upper-class despair. Post Mortem (Coward play) Post Mortem is a one-act play in