The Man on the Train/L'Homme du Train (2002) - French legends meet in heist yawner

♥♥

 

Two French veteran stars are going in opposite directions on a train track on this very bright poster for Patrice Leconte's The Man on the Train

An old gentleman befriends another aging man, who visits his city to participate in a bank robbery.

 

The Man on the Train is written by Patrick Cauvin (Le Dernier Tour (1994, TV movie)) and directed by Patrice Leconte (Les Vécés Étaient Fermés de l'Intérieur (1976)).

Why the two guys band up was never clear to me, (I might have missed something.) They are basically two archetype characters: 'The lion' (guess who) and 'the owl', you might well call them. But this meeting between major French star figures is no Heat (1995), and one of the film's problems is that it tonally sits between two chairs: The two men have conversations about their world views, which are the best scenes in the film and at times well-written. But then in the end the film also goes for suspense with the robbery, and this fails. 

For long stretches The Man on the Train left me yawning, and it is hard to say if stars Jean Rochefort (La Clef (2007)) and Johnny Halliday (The Pink Panther 2 (2009)) are really good here. The photography (by Jean-Marie Dreujou (Wolf Totem (2015))) is nothing special.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 5 mil. €, approximately 5.47 mil. $

Box office: 7.5 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.37 times its cost)

[The Man on the Train premiered 3 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 90 minutes. 14 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Strangely the UK Film Council supported the wholly French film with 500k £. Shooting took place in France. The film opened #57 with a 41k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #22 and in 85 theaters (different weeks), grossing 2.5 mil. $ (33.33 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 1.8 mil. $ (24 %) and France with 1.5 mil. $ (20 %). The film was nominated for 4 European Film awards, a David di Donatello award and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches over this one. The film was remade in 2011 as Man on the Train. Leconte returned with Intimate Strangers/Confidences trop Intimes (2004). Rochefort returned in Blanche (2002); Halliday in Crime Spree (2003). The Man on the Train is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Man on the Train?