The first half of "Roman De Gare" is riveting: the way writer-director Claude Lelouch, aided and abetted by Dominique Pinon's masterfully ambivalent performance, keeps us considering several different possibilities, and expecting the worst, brings to mind the classic Alfred Hitchcock rule about how suspense is created when you show the bomb WITHOUT having it explode. But after one key question is answered, the film loses some momentum, and the final revelations are not quite as thrilling as you'd wish them to be. Still, it's beautifully photographed, and the two women completing the main acting trio - newcomer Audrey Dana and veteran Fanny Ardant - are also exceptional. **1/2 out of 4.
Review of Roman de gare
