Roman de gare

Greetings again from the darkness. Excellent bit of storytelling and film-making from French master Claude Lelouche. This one has a bit of trickery in its approach and will force you to pay attention to details as you get the story and characters straight.

With some similarities (but not quite at the level of) "Swimming Pool", this one crawls inside the mind of a novelist and we are treated to quite a ride! Magicians, Serial Killers, Runaway husbands, Suicide, Murder, Romantic affairs, Pig slaughter, Family quarrels ... well you get the idea. This one has much to offer and will keep your attention as you attempt to assemble all the pieces.

Very strong acting from Dominique Pinon as Laclos. Pinon is not in the Hollywood tradition of leading men, but he is fascinating to behold. Myriam Boyer as the female lead is very strong in her less than balanced character who tries desperately to please her mother. Fanny Ardant has the pivotal role of the famous novelist, Judith Ralitzer, whose next novel brings all the characters to the cross tracks.

If you enjoy a complicated, multi-faceted story line and some offbeat characters, then you will probably find the same level of enjoyment that I found.

A multifaceted story which - apart from being interesting, well filmed and well acted - keeps the spectator getting ideas about what is really happening, just to have those ideas destroyed a few minutes later. Everything is thrown in: personal stories, criminal events, the French publishing world, sex and romance in a complex and fascinating whirlpool that ensures that you'll pay close attention. Highly enjoyable film, which is and yet is not a "film noir". The main male character can be offputting, which is not surprising, considering that he might be - underline "might" - a serial killer. The female roles are very good, with Fanny Ardant in a superb performance. If you think you'd like an intriguing movie that requires you to think, don't miss it.

When I can, I try to come here shortly after having seen a movie before I can intelectualise it too much or...forget half of it. I have just watched "Roman de Gare", came home and checked IMDb! Having left France at 27 and some 40 years now. Roman de Gare pointed me in the direction of romantic story in trains or train stations. I guess I was partly on the right track but reading other's comment I do agree with "typical Novel one would buy at the station to fill time on the train journey". (I'm not familiar with "airport novel" but imagine it must be very similar) All this,though, did not prepare me much for what was to come. I did enjoy the "trip" but I had some reservation about the twists and turns it took. I do mind improvisations that mislead almost solely for the sake of misleading. Personally I would have preferred to see these improvisations done in a much smarter way instead of being there just because we are told these 'situations' are there with 'would be' links but we have to guess what is what.

I probably would have enjoy the story just as much or even better if it had been simpler but kept the main element in one direction. Instead I found we were told a fairly straight forward story with, a lot of adds on that really did not do much beside confusing the audience but to lead to a rather conventional ending. It is possible I'll have a different reaction on a second viewing, however today, I had a good time but I found there was something not quite right for me.

After the unfair successive failure of the aborted trilogy of "La Comédie Humaine", we thought that Claude Lelouch was broke for a long time whereas Roman de Gare is released less than 2 years after "le courage d'aimer", the second and final opus of the forecast trilogy. Shot in secret with a nom de plume, Roman de Gare recalls a little of the freshness of the Lelouch of the 60's, but also lacks of the grandeur we were used to: the image quality is pretty poor, the cast is not all stars, though Fanny Ardant, Truffaud's egerie is superb as usual, we feel Lelouch had really little money to shoot; not a great music as usual(late Gilbert Becaud was a respected French singer, but the choice of the songs does not highlight the scenes to my feelings), the story is centered on a murder story, but is actually a pretext to demonstrate once more the human and love relations that the director is famous to be a passionate of. Not the greatest Lelouch, but not boring either due mainly to an unusual funny script and a pretty good acting.

Judith Ralitzer (Fanny Ardant) is a major French writer, or so the world thinks. The truth is that another writer, Pierre (Dominique Pinon) has been "ghosting" her books for seven years. The duo are to meet in Cannes to discuss their future endeavors. Ms. Ralitzer was also once married to a wealthy vineyard owner who died relatively young. Did she have anything to do with his death? Meanwhile, Huguette (Audrey Dana) is traveling with her doctor-fiancé to her parents' home in southern France. Alas, they have a big fight and Huguette is abandoned by her intended at a petrol station. In the station's coffee shop, she meets a kind gentleman who offers her a ride. What she doesn't know is that a serial killer, who employed magic tricks to snare his victims, has escaped from a French prison. Should she accept this stranger's offer? At this same moment, too, a Parisian wife reports that her husband is missing and doesn't know which way to turn. However, she does like the looks of the detective assigned to the case! This is an intriguing film with plenty of energy and suspense. The cast is quite nice, also, with Ardant giving a nice turn as the arrogant writer. Dana, too, makes a beautiful, mixed-up heroine. Pinon does not have the looks of a leading man but is quite fine as the major male lead while the rest of the cast is more than adequate. Naturally, the scenery in France is beautiful but one might be surprised at the rustic nature of Huguette's family abode where there is not the least hint of sophistication. One must also compliment the well-chosen costumes, the fascinating script and the sure direction of Claude Leloush. If you are searching for a film that will render an alternative movie experience from the standard Hollywood fare, do roam to the theater and plunk down some dough for this one. You will not be disappointed.