L'Homme Du Train film review

certificate_12A

L'HOMME DU TRAIN (THE MAN ON THE TRAIN)

Patrice Leconte's twentieth feature is, on the face of it, just about as "French" as it gets. It's a film that very few British writers or directors could contemplate making. A slow, thoughtful movie, it dwells on the essence of self and sees two mismatched characters carve out an unlikely relationship. Leconte's casting shows how this is a film where expectations will be juxtaposed. On the one hand there's Johnny Hallyday - a sort of French Tom Jones (but one who actually never fell from grace and is considered their greatest living pop star), and on the other there is Jean Rochefort, a legend of French stage and screen. A unlikely pairing, but one which ultimately works by conveying the two as a sort of French Odd Couple.

Hallyday is the Man on the Train, and the opening shots of the film see him arriving at a station in a quiet unnamed country town. The first thing that strikes us is the depth of Hallyday's face: there are a thousand stories etched into it. It reminds us of Belmondo- a face which may not be classically beautiful but which you just cannot take your eyes off every time it appears on screen. Shot in metallic blue colours, with piercing blue contact lenses, it's an extraordinary look. So here is a man with a past, and an uncertain future. His first stop is the town's pharmacy, where he bumps into the retired French master that is Jean Rochefort. Soon, Rochefort invites him to his house and offers him shelter for a few days. We learn that Hallyday is in town to meet up with some cronies in order to rob a bank.

The film is about the relationship between the two during these few days together. Hallyday is a reluctant bankrobber, and yearns for life akin to Rochefort's: one of pipe-smoking, slippers and reading classical poetry. Rochefort, on the other hand, desires what he sees as Hallyday's Wild West lifestyle. He wants to practice with his pistols, don his leather jacket and even offers to take part in the heist.

While at times all of this feel a little like a stage play filmed for the cinema, it's clear the chemistry between Rochefort and Hallyday is the driving force through the film. Hallyday is no novice, having worked with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, and Rochefort makes no attempt to steal the show from him. Instead, both fit each other like the pair of faded slippers that Rochefort at one point offers his counterpart.