User Reviews

All in one day: She's an aspiring French actress, he's a British professor. On the TGV, they look at each other repeatedly. In Paris, she winds up following him, she goes to his hotel room, they make love, she leaves, she returns, they make love again, then she leaves for her acting gig. In between, she tries repeatedly to call her boyfriend to no avail, and borrows money from her sister, whom she quarrels with. I found this movie to be dull, but continued watching to see if anything interesting would happen. It didn't.

A typical talky French film describing a romantic relationship between a man and a woman. Perhaps the unusual here is that the two main actors are older than usual. Gabriel Byrne was more than 60 years old when he filmed this; Emmanuelle Devos almost 50 (both look a bit younger than their years). She is a struggling French theater actress, He is an Englishman traveling to France to say goodbye to a dear friend, though we never get to know much more than that about him. They met on the train though at that time they did not talk to each other; in Paris, she finds him again by chance outside a church during a funeral. She decides to crash the funeral, and then follows him to his hotel; she insinuates herself into his hotel room where they soon have sex, even if they barely know each other. With time, we learn more about the Devos character: she has a boyfriend in Paris she is trying to contact to tell him some very important news to no avail. The Devos character is flaky and difficult, but she is not completely unlikable. The Gabriel Byrne character, on the other hand is a cipher, as the actor has an expressionless look throughout the movie: this is possible the worst flaw of the film. There are a couple of fine scenes that has little to do with the plot: in the best one, we see her during an audition. The soundtrack has some fine classical music, though it has no relation to the plot or the movie.

I went to watch this feature only because there was nothing else interesting released this week in movie theatres. I could not have watched for instance IRON MAN 3 crap, even for a million bucks. I am only human. So, I decided to watch this one. It's not my type pf film, but this sort of tale is from time to time interesting to watch. The scheme of a man and a woman meet aboard a train. Of course, anyone could think of David Lean's BRIEF ENCOUNTER. It reminds me another french movie from 1999: UNE LIAISON PORNOGRAPHIQUE, starring Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez.

This film is made in a very touching and realistic way. Emmenuelle Devos is here at her best, although I don't like her face. But that doesn't prevent her to be a very good actress, poignant, impressive at the most.

A really good film.

One may wonder what it was all about, when they got out of the movie theater after watching this movie. I did. I felt half perplexed, half bewildered. What is it Alix really after or why she thought she would get it from a stranger does not stack up. And most of the scenes somewhat did not stack up credibility. Scenes look like staged up coincidences with many flaws and gaps. Such as, Alix going to a funeral of a person she did not even know, just to meet the stranger in the train she was obsessed with. Adding further confusion, Doug somewhat shows that he does not know what was going around him either. A particular irrational scene was when Alix tells Doug that she is seven months pregnant. He doesn't seem surprised and plays quite cool about it which is confusing. It doesn't add any value to the movie and actually questions what it brings to the smooth flow of their romance. The end scenes are still confusing too. It looks Alix is confused what to do with her partner Antoine who never shows up in the movie. She obviously gets sick of him but her sudden invitation to him for her show, just after leaving Doug is mind twisting.

However, the acting of both Devos and Byrne are exemplary. Director Bonnell uses close-ups quite often, quite smartly. Especially the facial expressions and sharp, haunting eyes of Devos stands quite tall in the movie which successfully fill the gaps in the storyline to a greater extent. Byrne mostly succeeds in playing the right facial expressions too, helps to build up the consistency of the rhythm of the movie.

There is not much of a story, and Bonnell could have done a better job by making his own screenplay a trustworthy one. If it was not for the great acting of the main two characters, the movie doesn't hold much matter. Major portion of my ratings of 7 is absolutely for the performances of Alix and Doug.

If I saw a hot guy on a train and overheard him saying he was going to his sister's funeral I would not follow him and then go to his hotel and then start knocking on doors so that I could find him to bang him but that's just but that's just me.

Yes, I have seen movies with this exact same plot, but this film is constructed so well that it keeps me guessing as to the main character's, Alix's, motivation for beginning the affair, and thus sustains my interest in watching the relationship unfold until the end. The cinematography was beautiful. I think Gabriel Byrne was hard to believe in his role, but only because I have seen him in so many action driven/ plot device driven films that the subtle, understated twist and turns of this movie seemed a mismatch for him. I loved the introduction of the family drama. What I could have done without was the constant phone calls but even they grew on me. Emmanuelle Devos was incredible and carried her part off well. I would whole heartedly recommend this movie. It is not simply a romance but a complete dramatic character study.