MAN ON THE TRAIN (L'HOMME DU TRAIN) -----------------------------------
Manesquier (Jean Rochefort, "The Closet") is a refined, talkative, retired schoolteacher living in a small French town in the bric-a-brac stuffed home of his deceased mother. Milan (French rocker Johnny Hallyday, "Les Diaboliques") is a rough, taciturn bank robber who arrives by train accompanied by Ry Cooderesque strains. The two meet in a pharmacy and Manesquier offers a glass of water, then shelter after explaining that the only hotel is closed to the "Man on the Train."
Patrice Leconte's ("The Widow of Saint-Pierre") latest film will certainly be accused of sentimentality, with its well worn tale of human natures tame and wild drawing out the opposite in each other, but Leconte paints his fable with beautiful detail while
his actors create indelible characters.
Manesquier is shrouded in the past, attaining his pleasure from old family paintings, poetry and the Schubert which provides his musical signature. His life is structured, with weekly tutoring and weekend dinners with the woman he shares a chaste relationship with. Manesquier's upcoming heart surgery is a looming potential appointment with death.
Milan moves with the wind in his leather jacket, saying little, his presence accompanied by the music of westerns and trains. He has no allegiances except to the former partners he has planned to meet in order to rob the bank of Manesquier's sleepy town.
As Milan learns the comforts of house slippers and pipe, Manesquier is emboldened by learning to target shoot and stands up to a tough at the local eatery. The domesticity of Manesquier's romantic relationship is goosed by Milan's earthy presence just as it gives Milan pause to reflect on the female companionship his wandering ways have denied him.
Rochefort, who won the audience award at the 2002 Venice Film Festival (as did the film), makes Manesquier a country gentleman caught within the sleepy spell of his environs, his adventurous side coming out in his incessant conversational queries. He's a master at investing a senior with an impish twinkle without loss of dignity and provides the film's humor. When Milan confesses that he's a convict, Manesquier replies that he'd like to be something between 'fresh out of jail' and a world class soccer player. Hallyday, who built his reputation as a Gallic ersatz Elvis, is now France's answer to Jack Palance, a craggy stone face who conveys his inner thoughts through his very stillness.
Leconte paces his film like two trains gaining speed for a head-on collision, technically merging Manesquier and Milan's distinct color and sound themes until a swirl of surgeon's masks and stocking-faced robbers seal the men's fates together. A fantastical conclusion might be seen as an unearned happy ending that blunts the irony of where the men's original plans take them, but I prefer to view it as a soulful coda.
Unlike Leconte's last U.S. release, "The Widow of Saint Pierre," "Man on the Train" doesn't tackle complex issues. It's a simple tale, albeit one of rich detail, of fate and friendship.
A-
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