What a haunting movie this is! It's deceptively simple. Two men of very different backgrounds...a retired poetry professor and a thief...of different ages...the latter in his 70s, the former in his 50s... meet in a tiny French town, beautifully depicted in its winding, almost uninhabited cobblestone streets. The professor invites the thief to stay in his home...a charming country house, cluttered with books, with a piano, with all the evidences of culture, yet creating a sense of stagnation, insularity. The exchange between these two men, skillfully played by Jean Rochefort (that fine, veteran French actor) and Johnny Hallyday (a famed rock and roll star) is moving, as each man considers the reality of the other...with some longing for that otherness. Their almost simultaneous fate and its follow-up is brilliant, giving us the sense of the deep connection of us all. Don't miss this one...a small gem...but a gem nonetheless!
Review of Man on the Train
