Only Joking - Tapa blanda

You know what the secret of being a good clown is, Elspeth? he asks.
No, she says. You ve told me but I ve forgotten.,br. Innocence, Elspeth, he says. A clown is innocent. He is innocent because he has not been born into our world. He is innocent, Elspeth, because he has not been born at all.

Alphonse, an accordion-playing ex-clown, is hired by the Baron to spy on his wife, for whom, unknown to the Baron, he is already working. The intricate shadow-play that ensues moves at a pace that quickly blurs the distinctions between jokes and lies, art and evidence, until with a final tug at the strings the characters barons, clowns, art students, art collectors, film-makers, restaurateurs are brought into unexpected alignment with their several objects of desire.