In a 2006 New Yorker essay on the late French writer Boris Vian (1920-1959), Dan Halpern described Vian's "L'Ecume des jours" as a "deeply silly" piece of work. Judging by a new film based on Vian's 1946 masterpiece, Halpern's description wasn't entirely a diss. "Mood Indigo," the latest of three movie adaptations of Vian's book that have been made since 1968, is characterized by a similarly schizoid ambition.