Review: The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train

OPENING: Limited Release

STUDIO: Strand Releasing

RUN TIME: 105 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
A shocking story with one catch. It wasn’t true.

Opening Statement
The Girl on the Train is a dramatic French film that will keep patrons entertained for a little while. However, the manner in which writer/director André Téchiné (Wild Reeds) ties up his loose ends is so irresponsibly poor, most viewers will leave the theater with a feeling of disappointment.

Facts of the Case
Jeanne Fabre (Émilie Duquenne, Brotherhood of the Wolf) is a radiant, rollerblading redhead who has no job, but at the same doesn’t have a care in the world. She spends the majority of her days skating the streets of Paris, all the while telling her mother Louise (Catherine Deneuve, Persepolis) about imaginary job interviews she doesn’t go on. One day skating, she meets a wrestler named Franck (Nicolas Duvauchelle, Eager Bodies) who has dishonesty problems of his own to deal with. The two move in together, but Franck’s deceitfulness eventually comes to a boil, and is too much for Jeanne to shoulder. She takes out her frustration by concocting a phony tale about being the victim of an Anti-Semitic attack while riding on the metro, which captures the entire country’s attention. When Jeanne’s mother brings her former lover and lawyer Samuel Bleistein (Michel Blanc, The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish) into the picture to try and get to the bottom of exactly what happened, things spiral out of control, and Jeanne struggles to find a way to make everything in her world cheerful and untroubled again.

The Evidence
Though The Girl on the Train will ultimately let a lot of people down once the credits hit the screen, fear not. There are some pretty good reasons to see this movie. For starters, Émilie Duquenne delivers a great performance as Jeanne, from her sunny, jovial personality in the beginning of the film, to her more closed, introverted character after she lies about her attack (not to mention how stupendous she looks the entire time!) Another noteworthy performance belongs to Catherine Deneuve, who plays a widow with a freeloading daughter exceptionally well, capturing all the emotions and feelings of a woman whose life hasn’t gone according to plan.

Another reason to head out and see this movie is your chance to see the beautiful city of Paris. Though the majority of the film is shot during the daytime, the City of Light is a spectacle to behold and really makes you compare and contrast what we have here in the United States. Aside from a couple of English-sung tracks that Jeanne listens to on her headphones, The Girl on the Train is entirely in French, though the subtitles won’t throw you off at all. The only time things get a little puzzling is during a Webcam/Instant Message chat between Jeanne and Franck (why are they IM-ing one another while using Webcam’s at the same time anyway?!) It’s difficult to determine which individual is saying what, but certainly not enough to not understand the plot.

One deliberate aspect audiences will not be bowled over by is the focus of the film, which is totally lacking and completely frustrating. André Téchiné spends the first half building up the relationship between Jeanne and Franck, making us wonder, "OK, where is this going to go?" only to end it rather quickly and start up an entirely new storyline zeroing in on Jeanne causing a countrywide maelstrom over her fictitious attack. Like before, Téchiné builds this storyline up to the final minutes of the movie, failing to resolve it well at all. The final result is completely unexciting, unmoving, and guaranteed to leave a lot of viewers scratching their heads.

This complete lack of a focus makes The Girl on the Train feel like it could be two different stories told about two completely different people. One girl has a relationship with a guy that doesn’t wind up working out, and another feels so love-starved she cuts her face open and tells the country she was attacked because of her suspected Jewish-heritage. I’m all for multiple storylines in movies, but seriously, these two come together in such a shallow way, it makes you wonder why anyone would even bother. When all is said and done, the loose ends are too much to stomach, and all the film’s potential is cancelled out by its gigantic letdowns.

Closing Statement
The Girl on the Train isn’t the worst film you can blow your money on, but if you’re looking for a more satisfying purchase, you’re better off hanging onto your cash and splurging it elsewhere.

The Verdict
6/10

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