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This bewilderingly enjoyable film tracks an acclaimed author, her ghost writer, and a frustrated, rebellious young woman as a coincidental encounter at a rest stop intrudes upon the dainty, fragile poise of their lives. Jean-Pierre Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon takes an unusual turn as the film's male lead. The suspense revolves around the identity of the obliging man meaning to give a ride to the deserted young woman at the roadside rest stop. There are no less than three likelihoods. One of them is extremely dangerous seeing as he could be a rapist/murderer. What can we accept as true, and when can we? No one can even find common ground with the English translation of the title. I have heard that it is French slang for "trashy novel one reads in a train or train station." I have been told by a fluent French-speaker that it means "war story." I have read that it means "airport novel."Pinon is an absorbing actor. Through having the face of an aborted phoetus who has somehow survived and gone on to lead a normal life, a gaunt beard and a modest, indicative comportment, he matches she who spends the most time on screen with him, Audrey Dana. Dana is an unknown actress, sexy beyond belief, just humming with ardor and talent. The third central role goes to Fanny Ardant, who has a mystique that allows the film to let us wonder just what to think of her until the very end.When a movie like Roman De Gare succeeds, it's inspired, deceiving and crafty. When it doesn't, it's just blowing smoke. This film is entirely driven by a carefully weaved plot, and it is intended solely to keep us wondering and then surprise us, but despite its later slips into silliness, I think I understand the alternative realities of the plot, and I concede the loose ends are tied up, sort of. One person who sees this movie could feel that just one of the characters played by Pinon would have been enough for this movie but not in both of them interchangeably. But there is a lot of creativity and exacting work that goes into a thriller that doesn't quite give us a place to stand. Because of its carefully manipulated ambiguity, we care about Huguette because we believe that one of two things is for sure: Her favorite novelist is a fraud or her daughter may be in grave danger.Roman De Gare may not be tight as a drum as far as thrillers go, but I had a great time as someone who went with a friend on impulse into a six-screen moviehouse to see it without any knowledge of its plot or cast, experiencing a story completely removed from any formula or convention. It is very engaging and diverting till the final credits, during which the camera is still rolling, in a peaceful sense.
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