| Roman de Gare 8/14–15, 8/17 Thurs.–Fri., August 14th–15th, 8 p.m., Sun., August 17th, 7 p.m. Written and directed by Claude Lelouch. Running time: 103 minutes. Country: France. Year: 2007. Rated R. Literally translated as Novel of Station (or what we would call an “airport novel”), Roman de Gare is a literary thriller by Claude Lelouch (he of the 1966 arthouse classic A Man and a Woman). Judith Ralitzer (Fanny Ardant, François Truffaut’s widow) is a celebrated novelist who has garnered critical acclaim for God, The Other. She is idolized by the young Huguette (Audrey Dana), whose fiancé has unceremoniously dumped her and left her at a highway café. Bearing witness to the dumping is a mysterious stranger (Dominique Pinon). He could be Jacques Maury, a pedophile who has escaped from prison. Or he could be Pierre Laclos, Judith Ralitzer’s ghostwriter, as he claims. Offering her a lift to her parents’ house, the ghostwriter is positioned as Huguette’s ghost-fiancé for the sake of her overly-critical family. Meanwhile, Ralitzer takes her yacht out for a chichi holiday—where her ghostwriter has plans for her next novel... A Hitchcockian thriller filled with twists, turns, and mistaken identity. “It's the smartest and best suspense movie you're likely to see for a while.” —Mick La Salle, San Francisco Chronicle. (Rated R for brief language and sexual references.) In French with English subtitles. |
