Jeanne is a young woman, striking but otherwise without qualities. Her mother tries to get her a job in the office of a lawyer, Bleistein, her lover years ago. Jeanne fails the interview but falls into a relationship with Franck, a wrestler whose dreams and claims of being in a legitimate business partnership Jeanne is only too happy to believe. When Franck is arrested, he turns on Jeanne for her naivety; she’s stung and seeks attention by making up a story of an attack on a train. Is there any way out for her? In a subplot, Bleistein’s grandson, Nathan, prepares for his bar mitzvah and, through an encounter with Jeanne, experiences intimations of manhood.
The Girl on the Train (French: La fille du RER) is a 2009 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Emilie Dequenne, Catherine Deneuve, Ronit Elkabetz, Matthieu Demy, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Michel Blanc, Djibril Pavadé, Jérémie Quaegebeur, Alain Cauchi, Mélaine Leconte, Raphaëline Goupilleau and Jessica Borio. The plot centers on an aimless girl who lies about being the victim of a hate crime.
About the Production
The Girl on the Train has its genesis on a real life case that made headlines in France. Marie Leonie Leblanc, a woman in her twenties, walked into a police station in Paris on 9 July 2004 claiming she had been the victim of an antisemitic attack on a suburban RER train. According to her account, six men of North African descent ripped her clothes, cut some of her hair and daubed a swastika on her stomach, knocking over the pram containing her baby. Fellow passengers did nothing to help.
The case provoked national outrage for its virulent antisemitism; politicians and the media seized on the incident. President Jacques Chirac, condemned the “shameful act”, while Israel’s prime minister Ariel Sharon advised French Jews to emigrate to Israel to avoid ” the wildest antisemitism”. Four days later Leblanc, who was not Jewish herself, admitted she had made the whole affair up. The revelation that the incident was a total invention created consternation and further outrage, particularly criticized was the media sensational exploration of the affair.
The case inspired Jean-Marie Besset’s 2006 play RER which in turn was the base for Téchiné’s film script. Téchiné was interested in what he called the “human truth” behind the case. “I wanted to explore the genealogy of a lie, how it came to being. That’s why I divided the film into two parts. The first is the circumstances, so you see the context under which the young woman was able to construct her lie. You see the difference elements that she takes from the context around her and puts into. Bleinstein, whose name she has taken. It’s the name on the business card found in her bag, which she claims is the reason for being attacked. That was how I constructed the story.”
Téchiné cast in the leading role Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne, known intentionally for her starring role in the Cannes Film Festival winner film Rosetta (1999). “I didn’t want Jeanne to be depressive or a melancholic character,” Téchiné explained. “I wanted her to be physical and athletic, which is why we came up with the idea of her rollerblading. It’s significant that she falls in love with a top class athlete, which is based on the fact that the girl’s real life lover was an athlete. And alongside her athleticism, Emilie has a day dreaming quality. In real life she is about 30, but in the film she looks much younger and more childlike.”
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The Girl on the Train (2010)
Directed by: André Téchiné
Starring: Emilie Dequenne, Catherine Deneuve, Ronit Elkabetz, Matthieu Demy, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Michel Blanc, Djibril Pavadé, Jérémie Quaegebeur, Alain Cauchi, Mélaine Leconte, Raphaëline Goupilleau, Jessica Borio
Screenplay by: André Téchiné, Odile Barski, Jean-Marie Besset
Production Design by: Michèle Abbé-Vannier
Cinematography by: Julien Hirsch
Film Editing by: Martine Giordano
Costume Design by: Khadija Zeggaï
Music by: Philippe Sarde
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Strand Releasing
Release Date: January 22, 2010
Jeanne Fabre, an attractive late-teen-aged carefree loner, spends her time rollerblading through Paris and job-hunting, a nuisance she endures to indulge her widowed mother, Louise, who runs a day-care center out of their house. As they are watching a news program on television about anti-semitic attacks, Louise recognizes a person on the TV: Samuel Bleistein, a prestigious Jewish lawyer, who was many years ago in love with her. Louise arranges a job interview for her daughter at Bleistein’s law firm.
On his part, Samuel Bleistein receives the visit of his son Alex, who has comes to Paris to celebrate his son Nathan’s upcoming bar mitzvah. Alex’s encounter with his ex-wife Judith, who is Samuel’s assistant, is tense since they do no get along.
Jeanne’s job interview is a disaster. Evidently she is ill qualified and badly prepared. Unfazed by the interview, Jeanne resumes rollerblading and unexpectedly meets Franck a young wrestler, who takes an instant interest on her. A relationship ensues and the couple eventually move-in together when Franck finds a job as the caretaker in an electrical shop in the owner’s absence. The place turns out to contain hidden drugs and Franck is badly wounded in a fight with a drug dealer, who flees. The police let Jeanne go but arrest Franck, who rejects her when she visits him at the hospital. He knew she was lying the whole time during the relationship about having a job.
Heartbroken and angered, she goes back home to live with her mother. During the night, she wakes up from her bed and grabs a black marker. After drawing three swastikas on her body, she then takes a knife and proceeds to minimally cut herself in a few places, and then uses scissors to cut off part of her hair. She then sneaks quietly outside into the night. She soon alleges to the police to have been brutally attacked by hoodlums on the RER train because they thought she was Jewish. The incident becomes a huge national cause célèbre. Louise, however, believes her daughter has lied about the incident.
The Girl on the Train
Directed by: André Téchiné
Starring: Emilie Dequenne, Catherine Deneuve, Ronit Elkabetz, Matthieu Demy, Ronit Elkabetz, Nicolas Duvauchelle
Screenplay by: André Téchiné, Odile Barski, Jean-Marie Besset
Production Design by: Michèle Abbé-Vannier
Cinematography by: Julien Hirsch
Film Editing by: Martine Giordano
Costume Design by: Khadija Zeggaï
Music by: Philippe Sarde
MPAA Rating: None.
Studio: Strand Releasing
Release Date: January 22, 2010