A beautiful, delicate film. One virtue is the care that Delvaux shows in exactly depicting his characters. Twice Matthieu tastes wine and we see his sensual relish in the way he holds his glass, smells and tastes it. When he eats oysters with his mistress Anne the distance between them is shown in the contrast between Anne's speech and Matthieu's concentration as he cuts them from their shells and eats them. The people in their train department are exactly drawn. The young couple facing Matthieu are depicted with the care of a Flemish painter. When he stops his lecture and walks out because the Flemish students are on strike, Matthieu exactly and precisely defines the degree and conditions of his support for them. We can believe that the costumes Anne has designed for Everyman are real costumes that might be used in a genuine production. Even Matthieu's hallucination or nightmare is exactly drawn; we accept this because it is so precisely outside reality rather than a vague and indefinite place.
Review of One Night... a Train
