Man on the Train (2002)
"L'homme du train" (original title)

A teacher and a gangster meet by chance in a small town pharmacy. As a friendship of sorts develops between these opposite personalities, each starts to envy the other and by the week's end... See full summary »

Director:

Patrice Leconte

Writer:

Claude Klotz

Stars:

Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-François Stévenin

8 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Rochefort	...	Monsieur Manesquier
Johnny Hallyday	...	Milan
Jean-François Stévenin	...	Luigi
Charlie Nelson	...	Max
Pascal Parmentier	...	Sadko
Isabelle Petit-Jacques	...	Viviane
Edith Scob	...	Manesquier's Sister
Maurice Chevit	...	Hairdresser
Riton Liebman	...	Burly Guy
Olivier Fauron	...	Schoolboy
Véronique Kapoyan	...	Baker
Elsa Duclot	...	Waitress
Armand Chagot	...	Gardener
Michel Laforest	...	Pharmacist
Alain Guellaff	...	Surgeon

Storyline

A teacher and a gangster meet by chance in a small town pharmacy. As a friendship of sorts develops between these opposite personalities, each starts to envy the other and by the week's end, everything will change for both of them.

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Plot Keywords:

teacher | criminal | small town | poetry | opposites | 

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Taglines:

A poet. A thief. Two strangers with nothing in common are about to trade their lives for a chance to cheat their destinies.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language and brief violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [us] Pathé / 1000 Films (French)

Country:

France UK Germany Japan

Language:

French

Release Date:

2 October 2002 (France)

Also Known As:

Man on the Train

Filming Locations:

Annonay, Ardèche, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$41,138 (USA) (9 May 2003)

Gross:

$2,541,320 (USA) (21 November 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ciné B, Zoulou Films, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Monsieur Manesquier: Do you want to know a secret?
Milan: Do I have any choice?

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Connections

Remade as Man on the Train (2011)

User Reviews

Interesting and beautiful

'The Man on the Train' is a beautiful movie about two man later in life. One of them is a bank robber, the other is a teacher. They meet by accident and become friends. Slowly they both start wishing they would have been the other man.

The teacher (Jean Rochefort) knows what the bank robber (Johnny Hallyday) does for his money. He even offers to help, but the day the bank will be robbed he has to go into surgery. We see how the teacher pretends to be a cool guy, even changes his looks to that. We also see how the bank robber pretends to be a teacher when the real teacher is out.

All this leads to an ending that closes things in one way, but leaves things open in another. We feel an ending like this coming, but it still works. It is beautiful and fits the rest of the movie perfectly.

If your favorite movies are like 'The Fast and the Furious' you will probably not like this. It is a real European movie, sometimes slow, most of the time very quiet, but if you can appreciate this kind of film making you will like 'The Man on the Train'.