The Girl on the Train

MOUCHETTE on roller skates, what more can I say? André Téchiné is a master director, and while this might seem more condensed than his other work (looking at you HOTEL DES AMERIQUES), it's by no means less complex.

Parallel stories eventually converge in this watchable but disjointed film. An unhappy girl, from a cash-strapped family headed by her widowed mother, takes up with a dangerous young man and gets herself embroiled in a legal case that brings her in contact with a wealthy lawyer's unhappy family. The surprise in the film was to see Catherine Deneuve in a unglamorous role as the dowdy mother.

This film gave the illusion of being a really good thriller. It was a watchable film but there were so many loose ends and questions that didin't seem to be addressed in the film. It was okay but great eye candy with the cast.

As this film is based on a true story, it's no suprise that it doesn't have a tidy ending. It would have been more helpful, however, if there had been more in the way of explanation.Emilie Dequenne plays a young woman, living with her widowed mother (Deneuve),who seems to make a living as a child-minder. (Not terribly good casting?)

Dequenne meets an interesting but slightly dangerous young man whilst roller skating round town and embarks on a passionate affair with him. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, she begins self-harming and subsequently makes up a story about being attacked by a gang of youths on a train.

Although her story is full of holes, it is apparently pounced on by the media, who make great gain from it, concentrating on the fact that the attackers had believed the girl to be Jewish, making the incident an anti-semitic one.

This is the main story, but there are many secondary plots going on with and around the mother, the girl, the boy-friend, the mother's ex-lover,the mother's ex-lover's family and so on. None of these sub-plots seem to provide any answers to the questions that were continually being raised. It was a well knitted piece, but with all the strands left hanging loose and no possibility of it ever turning into a wearable garment.

Without the name Deneuve on the cast list, I doubt it would have aroused much interest. However, there is some very good acting by the two young stars. And if you can accept Catherine Deneuve as a middle-aged mother,eaking out a living as a child-minder,you'll be halfway there.

A sad waste of Catherine Deneuve's and our time.

There is no resolution or elucidation with regard to the central character about whom we learn nothing.