Roman de Gare

Claude Lelouch's ROMAN DE GARE(TRACKS in English)has a brilliant script which questions whether or not Dominique Pinon is a pedarist/rapist, a ghostwriter for a famous author(Fanny Ardent, nothing short of superb), or a teacher who has just left his wife, kids, and job. Notice how beautifully Lelouch constructs a scene involving Pinon, as to bring a lump to your throat, when he walks with Audrey Dana's(more on her in a moment)daughter trout fishing afar off, or when we hear coming across the radio, a bulletin regarding a serial killer on the loose, with the director(screenplay)shooting Pinon in his opening introduction, listening on as he drives his car to what seems like an unknown destination.



There are three characters of great importance in the movie. Fanny Ardant as Judith Ralitzer, an author who may be successful off of someone else's work. Pinon who could be anyone. Audrey Dana, as Huguette, a neurotic chain-smoking hairdresser who has an unstable relationship with men..in fact, men come and go in her life regularly, with her admitting that a lot of it has to do with her. Dana is left by her physician fiance at a gas station and Pinon offers her a ride. Huguette is told by Pierre Laclos(Pinon)that he has left his family and job.



Laclos is a talented magician(his trick with a newspaper is rad). The serial killer himself is also a magician. We see Laclos perform a flower trick for a couple's daughter and we instantly(or at least I did)cringe, wondering if he is preparing for another predatory strike. Laclos agrees to represent the boyfriend, Paul, donning a disguise as her fiance, just to establish that her engagement this time around was legit. Their act somehow works despite Huguette's mom's suspicions. This is where Laclos meets her daughter, the two remaining away for hours trout fishing with Huguette worrying of horrifying possibilities. Lelouche continues to cast doubt regarding Laclos as he speaks into a tape recorder using language in sentence form for a novel which might have us to believe(or it did to me)Huguette's life could be endangered. What he speaks into the recorder often has Huguette as his subject which provides a curiosity as to his intentions.

Regarding Pinon's character, I will just admit that I was in all the way. Yep, all my chips were on the table. The wondrous joy of being played like a fiddle. The movie really has two halves. Pinon's time with Dana takes up the first half. His time with Ardant, the second. I just love how Lelouche brings the three characters together to dispel one's treachery.
Ardant's ghostwriter is uncovered and we follow his putting together a new novel, one his wants his own name on. Judith loves her lifestyle which provides trips around the world, renown from those in the literary establishment, and adoration from a loyal following who enjoy her novels. I was blown away by Ardant's performance. In her short time on screen, I thought she was sensational. It's all about how she responds to this new crisis which presents itself. Everything that has come with her career of success is in danger. Notice how Ardant reacts when she realizes that her world is crashing down around her, her fraudulent facade as this great artist in jeopardy of cascading. What I was most impressed with was how, despite Judith's reaping the accolades and rewards of another for so long(seven novels counting the one stolen from her ghostwriter, presumed drowned after it is presumed he fell out of a yacht in a drunken stooper), Ardant caused me such heartbreak, even though she was obviously preparing to kill the secretary handing her the material already wrote for her to gain wealth and prestige from. It's all behind her eyes, the emotion swelling up, trying every way to keep her devastation buried once someone emerges to once and for all capsize her legacy..one of the best female performances I've seen since Zhang Ziyi in Wong Kar Wai's 2041. I know she is a phony. It is opened for debate that she may've been responsible for the death of her husband(it was ruled a suicide). And, the ghostwriter does some sleuthing to determine that Judith wasn't about to allow him to publish his own novel..his "goose was cooked."

Dana's family is poor and run a farm. They own a lot of land, and are accustomed, it seems, to new fiances and boyfriends brought to them from time to time. I love these moments where Pinon and Dana walk on egg shells, trying to keep up their disguised relationship(there's a hilarious scene where Dana pretends to have an orgasm, moaning in ecstasy so her mom could hear as Pinon lies on a couch). Then, that bastard Paul shows up after Laclos had left, ruining everything that had been accomplished..it's a great shock to the senses how the family is eating breakfast when he appears, and how Huguette leads an outburst, shotgun in hand, is a doozy of a response.

How Lelouche and company use Huguette is a thrill because she is pulled into a situation involving Laclos where it reveals her as the muse of a novel, exact details which both shared. Also, an important part of this story, Laclos' sister and his sister's detective lover(amazing that these two met after she reported her husband missing, later developing feelings for the detective, actually hoping her husband doesn't return!)who soon get involved in a case when he comes up missing.

I highly recommend this movie to those who enjoy slippery melodramas with fate deciding outcomes, lies and betrayal brought to fruition, resulting in tragedy. Pinon, an actor rarely ever treated to such a role as this, for once gets the girl, Dana delightfully embracing him, not as concerned with what he might look like to others, her Huguette finally encountering someone who could treat her with a decency that's been lacking in her relationships.