Man on the Train (2002)

A bank robber arrives to do a job in a small French town and strikes up a friendship with a retired poetry teacher.

Director:

Patrice Leconte

Writer:

Claude Klotz

Stars:

Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-François Stévenin

8 wins & 10 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	...	La soeur de Manesquier
Maurice Chevit	...	Le coiffeur
Riton Liebman	...	Le costaud
Olivier Fauron	...	Le collégien
Véronique Kapoyan	...	Le boulngère
Elsa Duclot	...	La serveuse
Armand Chagot	...	Le jardinier
Michel Laforest	...	Le pharmacien
Alain Guellaff	...	Le chirugien

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 | poetry | opposites | small town | 

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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:

Pathé / 1000 Films (French)

Country:

France UK Germany Japan

Language:

French

Release Date:

20 June 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Man on the Train

Filming Locations:

Annonay, Ardèche, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$659,820 (France), 4 October 2002

Opening Weekend USA:

$41,138, 11 May 2003, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,541,320, 23 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?

Trivia

Jean Rochefort died in October 2017. Two months later, Johnny Hallyday died.

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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

A surprising intersection of two contrasting lives

"Man on the Train (L'Homme du train)" is a small story of cumulative details done exceedingly well that could simply not be done by Hollywood.

The excellent leads, each charismatic in his own way, talky Jean Rochefort and taciturn Johnny Hallyday (who brings none of his pop star baggage to an American audience), are past middle age. There is a lot of Rohmer-like sitting around talking over a bottle of wine.

The emphasis is on very gradual, internal realizations by each character that are revealed by a subtle accretion of surprising little decisions, such as wearing slippers or getting a new haircut, culminating in an unpredictable, yet beautifully satisfying conclusion.

Photographed in a shades of gray palette that is almost in black-and-white, a small town and its interconnections and personalities are beautifully evoked.

The women in their lives are ancillary, which is just as well, as they are not completely believable.

The poetry teacher is too sophisticated to quote John Greenleaf Whittier, but I will, on the theme: "Of all the words of tongue or pen/the saddest are these/It might have been."