L'Homme du Train
Screening: 13 June 2005
France/UK/Germany 2002
Directed by Patrice Leconte
Leading players ~ Johnny Hallyday, Jean Rochefort, Isabelle Petit-Jacques.
90 minutes (subtitles).
Synopsis
By chance a genial retired teacher, Manesquier (Rochefort), unmarried and suffering heart problems, meets glamorous, if ageing loner, Milan (Hallyday), a gangster who has just arrived on the train and is planning to rob the local bank.However, neither man is quite what he seems. After a lifetime of conforming, the teacher longs for adventure, whilst the bank robber is jaded, tired of always having to move on: he wants to settle down, to read and listen to music.
They get chatting, exchanging views on what it’s like to get old and an odd friendship is forged. Manesquier confides that he is anxious about the triple bypass surgery he is due to undergo on Saturday and we see that Milan has a bad feeling about the robbery, planned for the same day. They spend the intervening three days finding out about each other’s lives.
Tragedy follows but an enigmatic conclusion sees them decide to swap identities – the teacher gets on the next train out of town and gives the bank robber the keys to his substantial, lavishly furnished home.
The central performances are a joy. Manesquier and Milan are so different. The latter has a blank, world-weary face complete with stubble and eyes narrowed against the light Eastwood-syle, whilst Manesquier is elegant and sensitive, full of joie de vivre, with an impish sense of humour. Yet Leconte, Rochefort and Hallyday convince us that the two men had a real bond and truly gained from knowing each other.
This very French, bittersweet fable celebrates friendship, no matter how unlikely or brief it may be.
