Man on the Train (L'Homme du Train)
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DVD details
Actor: Charlie Nelson, Jean Rochefort, Jean-François Stévenin, Johnny Hallyday, Pascal ParmentierDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
Published: 2003-11-01
DVD Release Date: 2003-11-25
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of Man on the Train (L'Homme du Train)
DVD Review: "We will pass ... "
Summary: 5 Stars
MAN ON THE TRAIN (L'HOMME DU TRAIN, 2002, U.S. release 2003) is one of those exquisite French films that stands so classically, it would be a sheer waste to try to remake it. When I first caught wind of this film, I thought I'd die if I didn't get to see it.
After I saw it, I was so breathtaken that I felt I might have died.
Legendary actor/writer/director Jean Rochefort plays Msr. Manesquier, a wise poet and poetry teacher full of ennui and curiosity. After all, these days his biggest job is tutoring a young boy in poetry. (This young student will be pivotal to the plot - watch for him.) One day the professor encounters a visitor, creepy-looking Milan (the awesome French singer/songwriter Johnny Hallyday, who looks like an ex-Marine), a professional thief.
With no room at the inn, Milan allows himself to get talked into staying with Professor Manesquier. Each demonstrates a healthy curiosity about the other, and in beautiful, delicate scenes, they begin switching identities. Manesquier wants to be a 'glamorous thief'; Milan always wanted the good life and an education.
In fact, this is a vital social commentary as we learn Milan would probably have been a professor had he not come from such a bad upbringing. Manesquier is so childlike yet 'devious' that he clearly would have made a fine white-collar criminal. Each man is essentially the other's fondest dream.
There is absolutely no homosexual streak in this film - that would have been horribly obvious and cheap. It a deep, philosophical film, and only the French can do it well. It is philosophy that is taught through simple examples of everyday life. A pair of fine carpet slippers given by Manesquier to Milan, along with lessons on how they should be worn/appreciated, is a perfect example.
Another of my favorite scenes is a scene in which the two, on opposite ends of a narrow street, cross at the same time, exchange items, and keep going. I LOVE this iconic scene, as it demonstrates to the audience what is occurring. The men are meeting in the middle, 'becoming' one another, then moving to their respective 'sides', opposite each other.
If I'm not in error, Milan is with some comrades at one point: one is a silent man who only spouts profound one-liners every so often. When these men are together, even more laughs are to be found, especially with France's answer to "Silent Bob".
The performances are delicate, earnest, innocent and simultaneously full of wisdom. Each man, of course, has his own peculiar wisdom and knowledge - it is the desire of each to have the knowledge of the other. And no one has to die for that to happen!
I can only say this film really is a great family film (with supervision). It is not a movie for the average slob looking for hot men or women, loud action, stupid whiny college radio station music. Oh, these two stars! What more could one want?
Directed by Patrice Leconte (INTIMATE STRANGERS, THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE, THE HAIRDRESSER'S HUSBAND which starred Rochefort) and written by novelist and screenplay writer Claude Klotz (a/k/a Patrick Cauvin, author of THE HAIRDRESSER'S HUSBAND), this classic is one you cannot miss - or miss the chance to own.
I see many DVDs of classic titles are going into the black hole of the Evil Market. I'm working very hard to review these great modern classics, in order that you might order them before they, too, get the ax. Definitely get THE MAN ON THE TRAIN before some of the others on your list!
Description of Man on the Train (L'Homme du Train)
Patrice Leconte?s (Girl on the Bridge) MAN ON THE TRAIN tells the touching story of two men from different walks of life as they develop an unexpected friendship and change each other?s view of life at the last possible moment. Milan (Hallyday), a thief, steps off the train in a small town in the French Alps where he plans to rob a local bank. By chance, after he is unable to find a room for the night, he encounters Manesquier (Rochefort), a retired poetry teacher whose sedentary lifestyle bores even himself. Sharing nothing in common except important plans for the weekend ? one is to rob a bank and the other is to go in for open-heart surgery ? the two men begin talking and soon develop a respect for one another, as well as a secret longing to live the type of lifestyle the other lives. And, as the friendship grows even stronger, each man defies his personality to explore his yearning for the life of the other.You wouldn't think a movie that's mostly two old guys talking could be a thriller, but that's exactly what Man on the Train is. French singer Johnny Hallyday plays a professional criminal who comes to a small town to take part in a robbery. By chance, he meets talkative Jean Rochefort (The Hairdresser's Husband), who invites the laconic Hallyday to stay at his house because the hotel is closed. The two form an unlikely friendship, each curious about (and envious of) the other's life. But all the while plans for the robbery continue, while Rochefort is preparing for a dangerous event of his own. The pitch-perfect performances make Man on the Train completely involving. Rochefort and Hallyday play off of each other beautifully; it's impossible to put your finger on what makes these subtle, supple scenes so magnetic. Directed with spare authority by Patrice Leconte (Ridicule). --Bret Fetzer
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