The Page Turner

Director Denis Dercourt's film is a compelling drama set in contemporary France. Mélanie (Julie Richalet) is an aspiring 10-year old pianist, preparing for her conservatory exam. Her audition goes badly when her concentration is broken by a commotion involving the head of the jury Ariane Fouchécourt (Catherine Frot), a renowned concert performer who behaves badly towards the aspiring pianist. Ten years pass, and Mélanie (now played by Déborah François) lands a coveted job at a law firm working for Monsieur Fouchécourt (Pascal Greggory). Mélanie makes a big impression on her patron, and she is recruited as an au-pair at his estate. She quickly becomes an indispensable member of the family, and intimate with Pascal's wife, who by now is struggling to maintain her illustrious career. Melanie is recruited to turn the pages of music during the make-or-break performance by Ariane and revenge appears to be the order of the day. An absolutely stunning performance by Belgian actress Déborah François, who was the lead in the award-winning L'Infant last year. Dercourt's use of silence to convey meaning and intention is remarkable, and has led to comparisons with the legendary Claude Chabrol (who directed L'Enfer with Emmanuelle Béart.)

I think these days the audience has forgotten how minimalist a film can be to achieve effective and powerful stories. "The Page Turner" reminds us of just that, in a era where films under 2 hours are often deemed as too short.

Clocking in at 70 minutes, this is a great, neat little piece of work with solid performances throughout. Deborah Francois is has a natural cool and a hidden Machiavellian glint in her eyes that is only subtly conveyed throughout the movie, and her seeming lack of emotions is frighteningly real. This is a revenge story, and is a no nonsense script, helped further on with beautiful choices of music and great camera and directing.

It conveys a powerful message on the nature of revenge how easily we humans come to lean on one another, emotionally and psychologically. Betrayal is the worst for a person to experience, and here the betrayal and revenge of "The Page Turner" is delivered with the grace of a real master of intrigue.

This is a French movie and why I selected to see this movie was because it was running for a long time in Amsterdam. I thought that it must be a good movie. I had seen the trailer earlier and as I do not understand French I found it to be a homely movie. But that was not the case, when I read the reviews before seeing the movie – I understood that it was a thriller.

So I got more interested and went to see it. The usher of the hall – looked like did not expect a colored Asian to come and see this movie – may be she did not see any in its 14 week run in the theatres. So when she saw me – she stopped me to check whether I am entering the right hall or not – and yes I was – I was going to see a French movie – La tourneuse de pages – meaning the turning of pages.

It is a beautifully told story about a young gifted girl who is a very good piano player. She wants to get admission in a music school – but fails at the admission test because one of the lady jury member is arrogant not to give an autograph to her mother, but to show off in front of other jury members – gives autograph to someone in the middle of this girls performance; in turn unintentionally distracting her and loosing her concentration, ending up not being selected. This leaves a deep scarce inside this girl's mind, who abandons playing piano.

The next scene spans after 10 years, when this girl is grown up and is appointed to work in a lawyer's firm. The owner of the firm is the husband of that female jury member because of whom this girl was not able to pursue her interest in music - playing piano. The remaining part of the story is about this young girl's revenge to this lady jury member. The young girl is played by beautiful Deborah Francois – who plays every emotion of the innocent young girl's character with perfect ease and comfort. All the credit to the director Denis Dercourt who uses images to transfer the thoughts going on the character's mind with such ease on screen. The story unfolds – we as audience expecting what are the next thing this girl is going to do? I would not tell the tactic the girl uses – it is really very interesting and people who want to study the portrayal of psychological intent on screen – should study the scenes, characters and the on screen incidents.

At the end of the movie – I was actually waiting for something more to happen and was disappointed that the movie got over so fast. Full credit to the other character of the lady jury member – Catherine Frot – who has displayed a decent, typically wealthy lady's character – by going into the skin of what this elite people do or behave.

Worth watching.

"LaTourneuse de pages" aka "The Page Turner", (2006) directed by Denis Dercourt is a clever, elegant, entertaining French psychological drama/revenge/thriller, short but satisfying. It was made by a writer/director who has been a professional musician, both a performer and a teacher, who knows and loves classical music and makes it a very important part of all his movies. Prélude en ré mineur by Johann Sebastian Bach and Shostakovich's opus 67, trio in E minor that sound in "The Page Turner" are marvelous.

The film brings to mind such excellent and diverse films as "The Piano Player ", "Notes on a Scandal", and "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant" but it is very good on its own terms thanks to the pitch perfect performances by two main characters and supporting cast and exquisite subtlety in exploring the familiar subject of long awaited and perfectly executed revenge. 19 years old Belgian actress Déborah François gives an absolutely stunning performance as Mélanie Prouvost, a self-possessed, attractive, efficient, and well mannered young woman with a sweet quiet smile, refined soft voice, graceful movements, impeccable taste and appreciation for fine quality of things. Mélanie is very observant, smart, and it did not take her long to become an indispensable asset, a trusted page turner for her new boss, Ariane Fouchecour (Catherine Frot). Ariane is a renowned concert pianist who now performs in a trio and is vulnerable and fragile after having survived an auto crash. Little did Ariane know that the girl who had charmed the whole family with her tactfulness, efficiency, and loyalty, has a long memory that goes as far as ten years back when young Melanie (Julie Richalet also gave memorable performance as young Melanie) dreamed of becoming a famous pianist, tried to pass the Conservatory entrance exam with Ariane as a president of the jury. Melanie got distracted by Ariane having signed an autograph for a fan during her performance and failed the exam. She never touched the piano again and she never forgot the day and the person that had changed her life ...

Both actresses were outstanding, and François was a revelation in her only second role which is also her second award winning performance in the row. One of the reviewers mentions that she "almost out-Hupperts Isabelle Huppert" as the page turner. The gifted young actress justly deserves this praise. I hope that she has a great future ahead of her and I will be waiting for her following movies.

Director Denis Dercourt is also an accomplished classical musician. His previous film with a musical background, the 2002 My Children Are Different, was the austere study of a parent who was brutally demanding of his musical children to the point of revolt. Clearly Dercourt is interested in how musicians may suffer – the demanding hours of practice, the merciless competition, the terrifying concert night with its inevitable accompaniment of 'le trac' (stagefright) – and how the musician's suffering may engender suffering in others. In The Page Turner there's someone whose whole life has seemed ruined by musical frustration, and there's also someone with a horrible case of 'le trac.' Dercourt successfully combines the tension of vicariously experienced performance anxiety with the suspense of awaiting an act of revenge to be unleashed. In this film, all is bright and clear on the surface, but a mere walk down a corridor to an indoor pool can be heavy with foreboding.

This is a somber and elegant film less rich in detail than My Children Are Different but more intensely focused. While My Children was a coming-of-age story with a dark look into familial musical ambitions and their toll on children, this is a flat-out psychological revenge thriller, but completely set in a musical world. In The Page Turner Mélanie, a young butcher's daughter with serious musical ambitions, fails an audition because of the behavior of one of the judges, an egocentric pianist, Ariane (Catherine Frot) and from then on gives up her piano ambitions forever. Years later Mélanie (Déborah François, of the Dardennes' L'Infant) temporarily clerks for a wealthy lawyer, Monsieur Fouchecourt (Pascal Greggory), and also volunteers to care for his son Tristan (Antoine Martynchiow) during her vacation. Reporting to the château where Fouchecourt lives, she finds that her boss's wife is none other than Ariane. She immediately sets out to gain the unsuspecting Ariane's confidence – easy, since Ariane has recently lost all her confidence due to a serious car accident and needs all the extra support she can get. Before you can say "cadenza," Mélanie has become indispensable as Ariane's page turner for important concerts. Mélanie also wins Tristan's affection and becomes important to Ariane in more subtle ways. The only person she doesn't seduce is the cool, aloof Greggory. Eventually in the isolation of the château almost all the attention is on Adriane and Mélanie, but there are a few other small but important details. A cellist gets flirty with Mélanie and she punishes him severely. Tristan likes to practice holding his breath under water and when Mélanie challenges him in that and urges him to play a Bach piece faster than is good for his hands – all these things take on an ominous feel. We know there is going to be a breaking point when Mélanie will bring down Ariane's world, but we don't' know how or where the destruction's coming: Dercourt is continually bringing the tension to a tighter pitch by keeping us guessing.

Frot gives a fascinating performance and François too is effectively used, so still and tightly wound she seems able to inspire confidence or destroy it with a blink of her pretty eye. The action is less violent but the spirit of Chabrol hovers over this piece, which uses sweeping music and women fainting as in a Forties melodrama – and most successfully so. Frot, who has played ditsy women very successfully before, is beautiful and imposing here. A weakness of the film is that her character, while obviously wooden and egocentric in some ways – with her son, for instance – is a little too sympathetic for us to welcome her victimization. But the pleasure of Dercourt is in the discomfort he so elegantly arouses.

This is the cool side of the French personality. Dercourt's people seem curiously wooden most of the time – like Auteuil's character in Un coeur en hiver, they seem to live in a continual winter of the spirit – but within the world of austere elegance and musical dedication that he creates, somehow that woodenness becomes believable and even moving.

The Page Turner has received one musical and two acting César nominations: Jérôme Lemonnier for the composition, Catherine Frot for best actress, and Déborah Francois (of the Dardennes' The Child) for most promising young actress of 2006. Dercourt works in an area that he's intimately familiar with and knows how to create a mood. He also likes to use musically gifted youngsters in his films and the boy, Tristan, is one of those. Pascal Greggory plays Frot's husband with appropriately unctuous elegance. He's exactly the man she deserves.