L'Arlésienne (short story)

"L'Arlésienne" is a short story, written by Alphonse Daudet and first published in his collection Letters From My Windmill (Lettres de mon moulin) in 1869.

[2] Daudet's play formed the basis of the Italian opera L'arlesiana (1897) with text by Leopoldo Marenco and music by Francesco Cilea.

On 8 March 1999, BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation of Daudet's play entitled The Girl from Arles, written by and translated from the French by Michael Robson and directed by Enyd Williams, with Frances Jeater as Rose Mamaï, John Woodvine as Balthazar, Mary Wimbush as Madame Renaud, Geoffrey Whitehead as Francet Mamaï, Gavin Muir as Mitifio, Giles Fagan as Frederi, Tilly Gaunt as Vivette and Ben Crowe as Marc.

His family tries at great length to "save" their son, but eventually Fréderi commits suicide by jumping off a balcony.

Although the drama was based on the author's short story of the same name, first published in the newspaper L'Événement (The Event, 1866), and later in his collection Lettres de mon moulin (Letters from My Windmill, 1869), the plot was originally inspired by a real event: the suicide of a nephew of writer Frédéric Mistral as a consequence of amour fou.