In association with

L'Homme Du Train [2003]
from Pathe Distribution
starring Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-François Stévenin, Charlie Nelson, Pascal Parmentier
directed by Patrice Leconte

Features:

• Anamorphic
• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

You wouldn't think that a movie, which mostly consists of two old guys talking could be a thriller, but that's exactly what L'Homme du Train is. French singer Johnny Hallyday plays a professional criminal who comes to a small town to take part in a robbery. By chance, he meets talkative Jean Rochefort, who invites the laconic Hallyday to stay at his house because the hotel is closed. The two form an unlikely friendship, each curious about (and envious of) the other's life. But all the while plans for the robbery continue, while Rochefort is preparing for a dangerous event of his own. The pitch-perfect performances make L'Homme du Train completely involving. Rochefort and Hallyday play off of each other beautifully; it's impossible to put your finger on what makes these subtle, supple scenes so magnetic. The whole is directed with spare authority by Patrice Leconte (La Veuve de Saint-Pierre). --Bret Fetzer

A mysterious stranger, Milan (Johnny Hallyday), steps off a train in a place he has never been to before. Looking for a pharmacy to buy some aspirin for a raging headache, he comes across a retired school teacher, Manesquier (Jean Rochefort). The two men are complete opposites. Or at least they seem to be. But each man realizes that what he really always wanted is the life of the other man. This … extra "emotional relationship between two heterosexual men is such a difficult and unusual thing to dramatise – but Leconte brings it off with delicacy and persuasive charm" writes Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1
English

This quaint and amusing tale from director Patrice Leconte pairs Milan (Johnny Hallyday), a nomadic urban cowboy, with Manesquier (Jean Rochefort), a reserved and very settled curmudgeon. The two meet on the train in a French suburb, and before long the overly trusting Manesquier has invited Milan to be his house guest because the local hotels are closed for the night. The two men cautiously get to know each other, and they find that they have many things in common, even though they appear on the surface to be utter opposites. But deep down, they both desire to live life in the shoes of the other, even if just for a short period of time. And in a subtle, mutually understood way, they do just that.

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• Trading places!
  This film could in time become a classic in its genre. Both poignant and atmospheric. A veritable Greek tragedy. Two men, a lonely, retired teacher and an aging burnt out gangster, with a whimsical longing to change places with each other and inhabit each other's lives.
  Johnny Hallyday, with his powerful, brooding visage, as you've never seen him. (No longer the aging rock star fearing the loss of his youth), but a dark,intense, taciturn figure. He has neither the energy or the committment to give to... more info

• Mmmmm?
  Everyone told me this was brilliant - why was I so bored then? I enjoy a serious film especially with one of my favourite actors in it but this just went nowhere very very very slowly. I couldn't even been bothered to watch it to the end.

• A beguiling film
  I cannot conclude what the film is about with the exception of regret and kinship.It is simply excellent.Funny, sad, and it explores the great "what if".The two passages that throw the meaning completely are the begining and the end.Someone suggested that the film is about one man not two and what we actually see is the two sides of one character.The end seems to say whatever road is chosen it will still leave roads not travelled.This film would never be made in English or by Hollywood.French cinema does... more info

• Mildly interesting French flick
  Not a lot happens and it has a pointless ending. I enjoyed it as I didn't fidget and it had a short running time (about 80 minutes excluding credits). It was an insubstantial, though happily, unpretentious film.
  I've seen much better French films (Death in a French Garden), but I've seen much worse (The Pornographer, The Piano Teacher). I would not recommend the film if the central idea, about two men who envy each others lives, doesn't already appeal to you in the first place.

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