MAN ON THE TRAIN (L’HOMME DU TRAIN) European Showcase

Simplicity in art is often only discovered after a lifetime of work. In this superbly imagined and deeply moving film, Patrice Leconte strips away artifice and extraneous detail to focus on two unlikely men. MAN ON THE TRAIN features two of France’s most famous entertainers-Jean Rochefort and singer-actor Johnny Hollyday-providing them both with a vehicle to display their dazzling talents.

Hollyday plays Milan, a grizzled, aging gangster-cum-thief whose next job is to hit the bank in a small, quiet provincial French town. He arrives by train and immediately heads to the pharmacy to have a prescription filled. There, he attracts the attention of Monsieur Manesquier (Rochefort), a rather elegant and refined retired schoolteacher who lives in casual, unpretentiouss plendor in a rambling mansion. Upon realizing there is no hotel in town, Milan is forced to accept the hospitality Manesquier offers him.

This film is, above all, about friendship, and Leconte draws the details of Milan and Manesquier’s connection with an uncanny mix of sharply observed humor and finely tuned emotion.