Master filmmaker Andre Techine ("Les Egares," 2002) presents a deceptively minimalist story of a French girl's false allegations regarding an anti-Semitic attack during a train commute that shook France during the summer of 2004.
Divided into two parts — the "circumstances" and the "consequences" — Techine delves closely into the banal life of Jeanne (Emilie Dequenne), a recently graduated girl living a secure life in a Paris suburb with her widowed mother Louise (Catherine Deneuve).
With a referral from her mother to an old flame-turned-famous-attorney, Jeanne interviews for a job in the law offices of Samuel Bleistein (Michel Blanc) before being sidetracked from her job-hunt by a romantic wrestler named Franck (Nicholas Devauchelle).
An atmosphere of media hype and a violent personal heartbreak incite Jeanne to stage and report an attack by "six boys."
It's in Monsieur Bleistein's tranquil lakeside home, with friends and family around, that Jeanne must come clean about her lie in her own time.
Andre Techine employs his characteristically patient style to allow facets of truth to waft across scenes rather than drop in like weighted bits of narrative bait. "The Girl on the Train" is a study of character motivation that will get you talking.
