The Page Turner

To be shown: 14 April 2008

France 2006.
Director: Denis Dercourt.
Starring: Catherine Frot, Deborah Francois, Pascal Greggory.
Certificate 15. 85 mins.

Synopsis

Denis Dercourt's stylish, subtle and highly assured film is a pleasingly suspenseful psychological drama in the style of Hitchcock or Chabrol.
Deborah Francois plays Melanie, the smalltown butchers daughter whose ambitions as a pianist are dashed during a childhood audition for a place in the French Conservatory. One of the judges, Ariane Fouchecourt, signs an autograph for a fan, putting the 10 year old Melanie off her playing and thus denying her a place in the elite musicians school.
Melanie returns home, locks up her piano keyboard and instead of dedicating herself to art, she dedicates herself to revenge.
We next see Melanie as a young woman, eager to complete an internship in a prosperous law practice.
The reason for her eagerness becomes clear when we realise that one of the chief lawyers is Arianes husband, and that Melanie intends to use him to worm her way into the family home. She is taken on as a nanny for the couple’s young son and she is not only caring for him but also tending to Ariane.
The imperious pianist of old has been made fragile by a recent hit-and-run accident (the possibility that this was carried out by Melanie is left tantalisingly open!)
An excellent performance from Frot reveals a woman as troubled as she is talented. Soon the beautiful Melanie is so trusted by Ariane that she becomes not only her musical page-turner, but a psychological crutch and, increasingly, an object of desire.
With her scraped back hair, impassive demeanour and flat shoes, Melanie passes through the deserted corridors like a modern day version of Hitchcock's Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca, materializing in rooms without warning.
Making inteligent use of the different spaces and levels within the house and garden, including an underground swimming pool, Dercourt also understands the impact of one strategically placed piece of violence in making us fear for what Melanie might do to those around her,and when the filmmaker delivers a psychological satisfying coup de grace, it's all the more memorable because it doesn’t involve bloodshed.

Notes

If revenge is a dish best served cold, Deborah Francois is a pretty good person to do the serving. Her portrayal of a young woman intent on settling scores is the epitome of icy resolve in this only her second movie after an excellent (but very different) debut role in the Dardenne brothers film, The Child.

Director Dercourt is himself a professional viola player and conservatory professor.

The film was nominated for 3 separate Cesar awards (the French Oscars)
Best actress: Catherine Frot
Best music written for film: Jerome Lemonnier
Most promising actress: Deborah Francois

Deborah Francois is in fact Belgian not French.