La tourneuse de pages

Young village butcher's daughter Mélanie fails a piano competition because she is distracted by the rudeness of one of the musician jurors. Having given up on music, she finds herself in Paris many years later, taking on a placement at the juror's husband's law firm, who invites her into his home as a nanny for the holidays. The question is, of course, will she take revenge on the juror, and if so, how?

Old-school drama, presented timelessly by an excellent pair of actresses. There are many beautiful little touches to keep the tension high, ranging from the juror's son's fascination with 'how many seconds can I stay underwater' to the butcher's daughter hacking away at the preparation of dinner. It would be a shame to divulge the countless other little details put into the film as we follow the young, pretty Mélanie in the Juror's household, as it is in the details that lies the fascination. And it is that fascination which has to hold you captive, which it will, despite the simplicity of the script.

Director Denis Dercourt is also an accomplished classical musician. His previous film with a musical background, the 2002 My Children Are Different, was the austere study of a parent who was brutally demanding of his musical children to the point of revolt. Clearly Dercourt is interested in how musicians may suffer – the demanding hours of practice, the merciless competition, the terrifying concert night with its inevitable accompaniment of 'le trac' (stagefright) – and how the musician's suffering may engender suffering in others. In The Page Turner there's someone whose whole life has seemed ruined by musical frustration, and there's also someone with a horrible case of 'le trac.' Dercourt successfully combines the tension of vicariously experienced performance anxiety with the suspense of awaiting an act of revenge to be unleashed. In this film, all is bright and clear on the surface, but a mere walk down a corridor to an indoor pool can be heavy with foreboding.

This is a somber and elegant film less rich in detail than My Children Are Different but more intensely focused. While My Children was a coming-of-age story with a dark look into familial musical ambitions and their toll on children, this is a flat-out psychological revenge thriller, but completely set in a musical world. In The Page Turner Mélanie, a young butcher's daughter with serious musical ambitions, fails an audition because of the behavior of one of the judges, an egocentric pianist, Ariane (Catherine Frot) and from then on gives up her piano ambitions forever. Years later Mélanie (Déborah François, of the Dardennes' L'Infant) temporarily clerks for a wealthy lawyer, Monsieur Fouchecourt (Pascal Greggory), and also volunteers to care for his son Tristan (Antoine Martynchiow) during her vacation. Reporting to the château where Fouchecourt lives, she finds that her boss's wife is none other than Ariane. She immediately sets out to gain the unsuspecting Ariane's confidence – easy, since Ariane has recently lost all her confidence due to a serious car accident and needs all the extra support she can get. Before you can say "cadenza," Mélanie has become indispensable as Ariane's page turner for important concerts. Mélanie also wins Tristan's affection and becomes important to Ariane in more subtle ways. The only person she doesn't seduce is the cool, aloof Greggory. Eventually in the isolation of the château almost all the attention is on Adriane and Mélanie, but there are a few other small but important details. A cellist gets flirty with Mélanie and she punishes him severely. Tristan likes to practice holding his breath under water and when Mélanie challenges him in that and urges him to play a Bach piece faster than is good for his hands – all these things take on an ominous feel. We know there is going to be a breaking point when Mélanie will bring down Ariane's world, but we don't' know how or where the destruction's coming: Dercourt is continually bringing the tension to a tighter pitch by keeping us guessing.

Frot gives a fascinating performance and François too is effectively used, so still and tightly wound she seems able to inspire confidence or destroy it with a blink of her pretty eye. The action is less violent but the spirit of Chabrol hovers over this piece, which uses sweeping music and women fainting as in a Forties melodrama – and most successfully so. Frot, who has played ditsy women very successfully before, is beautiful and imposing here. A weakness of the film is that her character, while obviously wooden and egocentric in some ways – with her son, for instance – is a little too sympathetic for us to welcome her victimization. But the pleasure of Dercourt is in the discomfort he so elegantly arouses.

This is the cool side of the French personality. Dercourt's people seem curiously wooden most of the time – like Auteuil's character in Un coeur en hiver, they seem to live in a continual winter of the spirit – but within the world of austere elegance and musical dedication that he creates, somehow that woodenness becomes believable and even moving.

The Page Turner has received one musical and two acting César nominations: Jérôme Lemonnier for the composition, Catherine Frot for best actress, and Déborah Francois (of the Dardennes' The Child) for most promising young actress of 2006. Dercourt works in an area that he's intimately familiar with and knows how to create a mood. He also likes to use musically gifted youngsters in his films and the boy, Tristan, is one of those. Pascal Greggory plays Frot's husband with appropriately unctuous elegance. He's exactly the man she deserves.

Melanie Prouvost (Deborah Francois) is a girl who really knows how to hold a grudge. Aged 10 she sees her prospects of a musical career go up in smoke at a piano recital when she is distracted by one of the judges, Ariane Fouchecourt (Catherine Frot), a famous pianist who thoughtlessly signs an autograph while Melanie is playing. After this failure Melanie refuses ever to play the piano again.

A decade on and Melanie, while interning at a law firm, gets the opportunity to become a live in nanny for her boss's son. Needless to say the boss's wife turns out to be none other than Ariane.

From hereon in the film plays on our uncertainty as to precisely how and to what extent Melanie intends to take her vengeance against the emotionally fragile Ariane, who of course is totally oblivious to their prior encounter. Is Melanie truly a cruel and beautiful ice maiden out for limitless revenge, or does she have a heart after all? The film keeps the tension going playfully and subtly, helped in no small measure by excellent performances from Catherine Frot and Deborah Francois. In fact about the only criticisms I can think to make are that the script could possibly have fleshed out Melanie's motivations just a little more fully, and also that there were several continuity errors regarding Melanie's dress. I don't often notice such errors, but in this case they involved the sudden disappearance of Deborah Francois' delectable cleavage, which I felt myself compelled to keep a close eye on throughout. A very minor quibble with an otherwise accomplished film.

Not once does the page turner (Melanie) reveal her thoughts throughout the action of this incredibly engaging story. Melanie's performance is one of such extraordinary deftness that the revenge she wreaks is brought upon her 'persecutors' by their own actions. 'Butter wouldn't melt' is a phrase a wise observer would wryly make of this wily operator. There is just the hint of a social comment around the social and economic class differences between the pianist and the page turner. Melanie is clearly a Leveller. In a sense, Melanie gives a virtuoso performance, dedicating herself to the quiet study and execution of her plan. Melanie leaves, dignity intact, after delivering the ultimate cure for narcissism.

This is a French movie and why I selected to see this movie was because it was running for a long time in Amsterdam. I thought that it must be a good movie. I had seen the trailer earlier and as I do not understand French I found it to be a homely movie. But that was not the case, when I read the reviews before seeing the movie – I understood that it was a thriller.

So I got more interested and went to see it. The usher of the hall – looked like did not expect a colored Asian to come and see this movie – may be she did not see any in its 14 week run in the theatres. So when she saw me – she stopped me to check whether I am entering the right hall or not – and yes I was – I was going to see a French movie – La tourneuse de pages – meaning the turning of pages.

It is a beautifully told story about a young gifted girl who is a very good piano player. She wants to get admission in a music school – but fails at the admission test because one of the lady jury member is arrogant not to give an autograph to her mother, but to show off in front of other jury members – gives autograph to someone in the middle of this girls performance; in turn unintentionally distracting her and loosing her concentration, ending up not being selected. This leaves a deep scarce inside this girl's mind, who abandons playing piano.

The next scene spans after 10 years, when this girl is grown up and is appointed to work in a lawyer's firm. The owner of the firm is the husband of that female jury member because of whom this girl was not able to pursue her interest in music - playing piano. The remaining part of the story is about this young girl's revenge to this lady jury member. The young girl is played by beautiful Deborah Francois – who plays every emotion of the innocent young girl's character with perfect ease and comfort. All the credit to the director Denis Dercourt who uses images to transfer the thoughts going on the character's mind with such ease on screen. The story unfolds – we as audience expecting what are the next thing this girl is going to do? I would not tell the tactic the girl uses – it is really very interesting and people who want to study the portrayal of psychological intent on screen – should study the scenes, characters and the on screen incidents.

At the end of the movie – I was actually waiting for something more to happen and was disappointed that the movie got over so fast. Full credit to the other character of the lady jury member – Catherine Frot – who has displayed a decent, typically wealthy lady's character – by going into the skin of what this elite people do or behave.

Worth watching.