David O'ConnellRoman de gare
November 24th 2008 04:52
Veteran French director Claude Lelouch has made one of his most accessible and entertaining films in years with this alluring mystery, loaded with the genre’s usual trappings – various strands which take time to reveal their interconnectedness and a few clever red herrings tossed in along the way.
Roman de gare (2007) doesn’t break any new ground, but from the moment we see a curiously odd-looking man (Dominique Pinon, instantly recognizable from Jean Pierre-Jeunet films Delicatessen, City of Lost Children and Amelie), we become interested in his motivations. He’s driving out of Paris to an unknown destination, but to where?
Lalouch cuts away to seemingly incongruous lives, but which is a clue to the man’s identity? Is he the serial killer who has just broken out of prison? Or the husband of a woman who reports her missing spouse to a policeman she soon becomes infatuated with?
Or is he perhaps the ghost writer of famous author Judith Ralitzer (Fanny Ardent) as he claims to a young woman, Huguette (Audrey Dana), dumped at a service station by her belittling, pedantic boyfriend?
The desperate Huguette is traveling to see her simple country family and now needs the services of someone to pose as her husband-to-be which the stranger nobly provides, causing a detour from his leisurely travels.
Gradually, vital information is revealed and the pieces begin to float into view. Indeed, the mysterious man, Pierre Laclos, does turn out to be the ghost writer for Judith - as he originally claimed to Huguette before an instant retraction.
Determined to forge his own identity he meets the “author” on her boat where he outlines his latest story idea, woven from elements of his own life in Paris and those acquired on the road with Huguette – and a stinging exclamation: he means to step out of her shadow forever and finally claim his work as his own!
The remainer of Lelouch’s dizzying invention plays out with the requisite twists as new information comes to light before, after the passing of a year, a final twist is revealed, and though it’s not as shattering as hoped, it's an ingenious one all the same.
The film relies on a chain of clever deceptions to camouflage its true stories and the motivation of its players – a series of truths and half-truths which keep us guessing as to which is which. As such, we feel constantly off balance in the hands of a deft manipulator, waiting for revelatory signs which never arrive.
Lelouch skillfully builds suspense in scenes whilst making us laugh at the same time, especially in the sequence at the farm with Huguette’s family, which seems headed inexorably towards one of two outcomes before diverting down another, very surprising path altogether.
Pinon is superb as both deceiver and chief protagonist, whilst relative newcomer Dana is brimming with spark and personality as the earthy but feisty Huguette, who plays a key role in the outcome of many lives.
Ardent is a secondary player for large parts of the film but, as ever, provides a glamorous presence on screen.
Roman de gare may be a sleight concoction ultimately but it’s an attractive one, an engaging diversion perhaps lacking only a neater twist that truly shocks rather than one which might have been predicted as the cruel hands of fate swoops down on these forlorn, then finally, hopeful lives...........though there are always exceptions!!!
Trailer with ludicrously simplified but funny American voiceover which ratchets up the suspense:
Roman de gare (2007) doesn’t break any new ground, but from the moment we see a curiously odd-looking man (Dominique Pinon, instantly recognizable from Jean Pierre-Jeunet films Delicatessen, City of Lost Children and Amelie), we become interested in his motivations. He’s driving out of Paris to an unknown destination, but to where?
Lalouch cuts away to seemingly incongruous lives, but which is a clue to the man’s identity? Is he the serial killer who has just broken out of prison? Or the husband of a woman who reports her missing spouse to a policeman she soon becomes infatuated with?
Or is he perhaps the ghost writer of famous author Judith Ralitzer (Fanny Ardent) as he claims to a young woman, Huguette (Audrey Dana), dumped at a service station by her belittling, pedantic boyfriend?
The desperate Huguette is traveling to see her simple country family and now needs the services of someone to pose as her husband-to-be which the stranger nobly provides, causing a detour from his leisurely travels.
Fanny Ardent as famous author Judith Ralitzer
Gradually, vital information is revealed and the pieces begin to float into view. Indeed, the mysterious man, Pierre Laclos, does turn out to be the ghost writer for Judith - as he originally claimed to Huguette before an instant retraction.
Determined to forge his own identity he meets the “author” on her boat where he outlines his latest story idea, woven from elements of his own life in Paris and those acquired on the road with Huguette – and a stinging exclamation: he means to step out of her shadow forever and finally claim his work as his own!
Pierre (Dominique Pinon) and Huguette (Audrey Dana) - going to extremes to try and convince her parents of their "relationship"!!
The remainer of Lelouch’s dizzying invention plays out with the requisite twists as new information comes to light before, after the passing of a year, a final twist is revealed, and though it’s not as shattering as hoped, it's an ingenious one all the same.
The film relies on a chain of clever deceptions to camouflage its true stories and the motivation of its players – a series of truths and half-truths which keep us guessing as to which is which. As such, we feel constantly off balance in the hands of a deft manipulator, waiting for revelatory signs which never arrive.
Lelouch skillfully builds suspense in scenes whilst making us laugh at the same time, especially in the sequence at the farm with Huguette’s family, which seems headed inexorably towards one of two outcomes before diverting down another, very surprising path altogether.
Claude lelouch on set; he was an Oscar winner for his screenplay for A Man and a Woman in 1966.
Pinon is superb as both deceiver and chief protagonist, whilst relative newcomer Dana is brimming with spark and personality as the earthy but feisty Huguette, who plays a key role in the outcome of many lives.
Ardent is a secondary player for large parts of the film but, as ever, provides a glamorous presence on screen.
Roman de gare may be a sleight concoction ultimately but it’s an attractive one, an engaging diversion perhaps lacking only a neater twist that truly shocks rather than one which might have been predicted as the cruel hands of fate swoops down on these forlorn, then finally, hopeful lives...........though there are always exceptions!!!
Trailer with ludicrously simplified but funny American voiceover which ratchets up the suspense:
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