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
Still Life (2006 film) the former, and an 81% (out of 10 reviews) rating from the latter as of February 2008. At the end of 2008, "Village Voice" and "LA Weekly"'s annual film poll of film critics placed the film as the 4th best film of the year, and "Film Comment", official journal of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual end of year critic' poll of 100 film critics placed "Still Life" as the 6th best film of the year, with a total of 521 points. The film was voted the third best film of the past decade in a survey by the