A guy-next-door type translator (NOT "interpreter", mind you) (Yvan Attal) recently "ditched" (I took this from the sub-title in the version I saw) is on a train going to a seaside resort to enjoy a quiet vacation by himself when an enchanting woman (Sophie Marceau) sits opposite him and asks him to help her with the stuck zippers on her cardigan. Examples of stories starting with an encounter on the train can be easily found, for various genre: Strangers on a train (1951), Notre histoire (1984), Before sunrise (1995), just to name a few. Anthony Zimmer involves a crime mystery and a romance.
The silly plot (and the even sillier plot twist) is there merely to provide a platform for Marceau and Attal to act, and does not worth talking about. Marceau can play the role of the beautiful enigmatic women without even trying and Attal delivers the persona of an all-too- familiar absolutely ordinary guy caught in a whirlwind of unsought excitement to perfection. But then, both handle the deeper second layer extremely well too. The well attended to mise en scene provides good support, and the effective script carries the movie in a delightfully crisp pace through its relatively short 90 minutes. Very pleasant to watch, but somewhat forgettable, maybe with the exception of the lovely image of Marceau.
The silly plot (and the even sillier plot twist) is there merely to provide a platform for Marceau and Attal to act, and does not worth talking about. Marceau can play the role of the beautiful enigmatic women without even trying and Attal delivers the persona of an all-too- familiar absolutely ordinary guy caught in a whirlwind of unsought excitement to perfection. But then, both handle the deeper second layer extremely well too. The well attended to mise en scene provides good support, and the effective script carries the movie in a delightfully crisp pace through its relatively short 90 minutes. Very pleasant to watch, but somewhat forgettable, maybe with the exception of the lovely image of Marceau.