Nonureva Really Surprised!

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

dbdumonteil "I would like to be filmed by you".These tender words pronounced by Johnny Hallyday were the catalyst for Patrice Leconte to work with him and led to the creation of "l'Homme Du Train". Very simply, it's Leconte's best film since his wondrous "la Fille Sur Le Pont" (1999). One can say that this wish from the most popular French singer ever arrived at the right time. It means at a time when Leconte's career was cluttered with setbacks. The fashion "la Fille Sur Le Pont" heralded with a love story at the core of all the movies which followed it began to show signs of breathlessness as the stale, old-fashioned "Rue Des Plaisrs" (2002) testified. So what could Leconte do to boost his career again? Why not producing a men story? Thus, "l'Homme Du Train" constitutes a clear return to a genre Leconte has a liking for: the duo of men. This genre gave Leconte his very best film: "Tandem" (1987) in which Jean Rochefort and Gérard Jugnot were a remarkable mismatched pair. Fifteen years later a new mismatched pair strikes again. There's still Jean Rochefort who acts a retired French literature teacher. He teams up this time with Johnny Hallyday, a weary gangster who prepares a last break-in. Apparently, nothing lets predict a friendship between them but against all odds, the two men will become inseparable. Why? In "Nocturne Indien" (1989), Alain Corneau's best effort to date a character says that "we all have two lives. The true one, the one we dreamed of as a child and that we keep on living in a subterranean way and the false one, the one we live every day and leads us to the coffin". This cue, at least its second half could serve as the thrust developed by Leconte in this film. The staple is the unlikely meeting and friendship between two men that everything opposes but will strike up a solid friendship. This friendship is strengthened by the fact that Manesquier and Milan are both sick of their respective lives which seem constricting for both of them. Each one envies each other's life and they have good reasons for this: old age and especially death are very close to them.So Manesquier is tired of his cozy life in his lascivious house and dreams of an adventurous, hazardous one. His friendship with Milan prompts him to assess his life, perhaps not a failed existence but an unfulfilled one which could have been so much better. And see how Manesquier is so lonely in his spacious house! Behind his self-assured appearance and his sparkling look he conceals a deep vulnerability. The "Lecontian" hero par excellence. Now what about his sidekick Milan? He carries on his shoulders a distressing past and is well aware that he's getting old and gradually losing his means of defense, just check the sequence in the café. He would have liked to spend a good part of his life in a draft proof universe in slippers but as he says: "I have never worn slippers". Still about him, in the beginning of the film, there's a little telling detail that tells a lot about Milan's weariness of his dangerous life: to go to the chemist's, he goes through a round-about and there's a white pointer painted on the ground. Milan goes the opposite way of this pointer...Leconte prefers to show us signs emanating from the two pals' will to change or exchange their lives: Milan learns Manesquier to shoot with a gun and the latter by wearing his leather jacket's sidekick puts himself in the shoes of a baddie. Then a symbolic action: Manesquier goes to the hairdresser and asks his hairdresser to have a new haircut (a delightful allusion to another Leconte masterpiece "Le Mari De La Coiffeuse", 1990). As for Milan, Manesquier gives him slippers and one day as he's absent acts the French literary teacher... with obvious limits but manages quite well of his task.So, it is a well-rounded assessment of two cohesive men portraits which admirably mesh. As for the rest, Leconte's magic touch, the one that keeps his fans happy is palpable everywhere. First, it was a shrewd idea to have shot his film in the fall. This decaying climate serves the film and his topic. Furthermore, by locating the action in this small town in Southern France where"everyone knows everyone", Leconte unearths unsuspected gifts of entomologist. And there's still this bias for the devastating absurd detail in the bargain like the baker who keeps on asking to her customers: "and with this?" or this gangster who delivers only one line every day at ten o'clock in the morning. And let's not forget witty lines galore: "Thanks for everything". "You know, I only gave you a drink of water".Rochefort and Hallyday's roles were written according to their capacities of actors. So, they were written with care and respect. Rochefort proves once again here that he works wonders with Leconte. Hallyday was physically ideally cast as Milan but I would have liked that he was able to shade his acting a little more. But he's first and before all a singer... And while I'm on the possible reservations about Leconte's work, I'll just regret some elusive lines like the toothbrush and an end which takes the easy way. But it's minor quibble.Well done Mr. Leconte! You were able to forge ahead in the duo of men with this treasure. Leconte's aficionados in France and abroad, here's another gem for you! And this is one that makes my top ten best movies of 2002.

xbrad68 L'Homme Du Train was a thought provoking movie. I do not condone breaking the law however. The teacher represents the old school Guallists while Hallydays character represents the socialists who often try to cling to power violently like in Venezuela.President Charles De Gualle who my Dad served under in the Swimming Pool (SDECE?) SIS CIA alliance (and probably still serves under) once counselled President Jack kennedy that if America demonstrated that it was prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend Europe then Europe would be safe from the Rushins. To the current French Guallist President who is undercover finding out the Russians true Nuclear War intentions Jack and I say run up the Tricoleur, British and American Flags and give the Brics alliance a real surprise. There are two partly French people among the 21 Humans chosen for eternal life on 21 moon ships and or planets Caroline Bouvier Kennedy and King Henry VIII. You have places at the table of the Creator of Humans. It is better to serve a God known than a devil feared.Check out Hallydays other videos as well.

MartinHafer I liked the improbable but interesting story about a dull older man living vicariously through a tough stranger who has come to town to rob a bank. He wanted "one last thrill" and the crook wanted, at least in a small way, some connection to normalcy. This was the basis for an intriguing film. In fact, I liked it until the last 15 minutes or so--when the movie switched to SLOW MOTION-mode and got all artsy and "symbolic". Well, I for one, did not need all this, as it was very possible to understand the symbolism and juxtaposition of characters WITHOUT the painfully slow camera-work. Simply running the film in regular speed and not making the symbolism so obvious would have worked better, I think. Because of the poor handling of the ending, the movie rates a 6 instead of an 8.

elonganor Homme Du Train (Man from the train) is about two man, one a gangster showing up in a small provincial French town to pull a robbery in its small branch single bank. Surely he arrives a few days prior for planning purposes. Being such a small town, no open hotel (out of season) he find himself guest in a home of a local old retired professor of poetry. The Teacher is lonely and bored, looking for pal to talk and drink with.Two very different types at the beginning are gradually getting closer to discover the qualities and the similarities between them. The story gradually develops to a point where they cross each other path the Gangster becoming a teacher of poetry and literature and the Teacher wishing to become a gangster. It is about faith.. we develop in life to become what we become greatly by faith and not by choice..circumstances change and we change accordingly. Very thoughtfully movie keeping , excellent job by both the actors and the maker of the movie