The Page Turner (2006)

the audience applauded

Powerful

A Masterpiece!

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This movie has a hypnotic quality that makes it compelling right from the start and its story about a young woman with an agenda that's driven by an incident from her past is totally gripping and extremely disturbing. Director Denis Dercourt does a great job as he skilfully creates an uneasy atmosphere and also mirrors the kind of meticulous approach that the woman employs as she seeks to exact revenge on the person that she holds responsible for ruining her chances of having a career as a classical pianist.Melanie Prouvost (Julie Richalet) was a talented 10-year-old pianist who auditioned for entry to a prestigious conservatory in Paris where the judging panel was chaired by the famous and well-respected concert pianist Ariane Fouchecourt (Catherine Frot). The audition started well but Ariane insensitively disrupted Melanie's performance when she signalled an autograph hunter to come into the room and, in so doing, caused Melanie to lose concentration and fail her exam. The young girl, who was naturally devastated, went home, locked her piano lid and immediately gave up her musical studies.Ten years later, Melanie (Deborah Francois) is taken on as an intern in the law firm which is headed by Ariane's husband Jean (Pascal Greggory) and when she hears that he needs someone to look after his son while he's away on business for a few weeks, Melanie volunteers for the job. At Jean's luxurious country mansion, she discovers that Ariane has become emotionally fragile after her involvement in a car accident and had suffered with stage fright ever since. Ariane doesn't recognise Melanie but soon comes to appreciate her work as she plays tennis with her son and helps with his piano studies.When she discovers that Melanie can read music and is more than capable as a "page turner", Ariane starts to gain more confidence about an important radio concert that she's due to perform in as part of a trio and the two women become closer as Melanie becomes indispensable to Ariane in a number of ways. The cool, calm and calculating Melanie pursues her aims in a very determined and seemingly detached way until appropriately, she achieves her objective, partially by getting Ariane to sign an autograph and exploiting the same vanity and conceit that the older woman had displayed years earlier at Melanie's fateful audition."The Page Turner" is elegant, subtle and cleverly understated but is also clearly influenced in its style by Claude Chabrol and the sequence at the end of the movie where Melanie walks away from the mansion is reminiscent of a scene featuring Stephane Audran at the end of "La Femme Infidele" (1969). Similarly, a Hitchcockian influence is evident in the early part of the movie where natural sympathy with Melanie's predicament later causes the audience to feel conflicted about her actions (in the same way that Alfred Hitchcock did in "Psycho" with Marion Crane's character).The quality of the acting in this movie is consistently high but naturally, because of the significance of their roles, Catherine Frot and Deborah Francois stand out. Frot creditably makes the self-regarding, insensitive Ariane that we see at the beginning of the story every bit as convincing as the vulnerable and nervous woman that she later becomes and Francois is absolutely mesmerising as the placid-looking Melanie who so cruelly gets her revenge by damaging the lives of all three members of Ariane's family. Rarely can there have ever been a home invasion drama in which the invaded were so oblivious to what was going on and where the invader succeeded so comprehensively in what they set out to do.

The girl Mélanie Prouvost (Déborah François) is the beloved daughter of the butchers Mrs. Prouvost (Christine Citti) and Mr. Prouvost (Jacques Bonnaffé). She is an aspirant pianist and her parents make her application to the Conservatory. During the entrance exam, she begins with a great performance but she is distracted by one member of the admittance board, Ariane (Catherine Frot), who is giving an autograph, and she fails.Years later, Mélanie is a teenager that has just finished high-school and she is accepted as intern of the law firm owned by the prominent lawyer Mr. Fouchécourt (Pascal Greggory). Mélanie overhears that he needs someone to take care of his son Tristan (Antoine Martynciow) and she offers to the position. She needs to travel to another town and when she arrives at the manor, she is welcomed by Ariane, who is the wife of Mr. Fouchécourt. She does not recognize Mélanie and soon she becomes Ariane's page turner, in the beginning of her carefully planned revenge against the woman that destroyed her dreams."La tourneuse de pages", a.k.a. "The Page Turner", is a stylish thriller of passion, seduction and revenge. This is almost a perfect movie, with great direction, screenplay and cast. The music score with classics is another attraction of this wonderful movie. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): Not Available

French screenwriter and director Denis Dercourt's fifth feature film which he co-wrote with French screenwriter Jacques Sotty, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 59th Cannes International Film Festival in 2006, was screened in the Official selection at the 31st Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, was shot on location in France and is a French production which was produced by producer Michel Saint-Jean. It tells the story about a talented pianist named Mélanie Prouvost who lives in France with her parents. Mélanie has been preparing for an upcoming audition for a long time, but when the time has come to perform in front of a panel of judges, a woman interrupts the session to get an autograph and Mélanie loses her focus. Many years later, Mélanie attends an appointment with a woman at an advocate firm in Paris, France and is hired as an apprentice. Although just having gotten settled there, Mélanie has learned that one of the men who works at the firm named Jean is in need of a babysitter as his wife is about to perform at a concert with her trio called Anima, and offers to look after his son. Distinctly and precisely directed by French filmmaker Denis Dercourt, this finely paced fictional tale which is narrated mostly from the two main characters' viewpoints, draws a quietly and increasingly intriguing portrayal of an immaculately well-mannered French woman from a butcher family who without telling who she really is, moves into the home of the woman she regards as the sole reason for her having to let go of her aspirations to become a professional pianist. While notable for it's naturalistic and mostly interior milieu depictions, sterling cinematography by cinematographer Jérôme Peyrebrune, production design by production designer Antoine Platteau and use of sound, this character-driven and narrative-driven story where a renowned concert pianist whom has become fragile after a hit-and-run car accident finds a new friend and admirer in a younger woman who within days of taking care of her son named Tristan whom is learning to play piano, makes such an impression on her that she asks her to become her page turner, depicts two refined, internal and merging studies of character and contains a poignant and timely score by composer Jérôme Lemonnier. This minimalistic, conversational and distinctly atmospheric chamber piece from the late 2000s which is set in the capital city of France in the early 21st century and where a charming stranger with fine credentials whom has been carrying a grudge for years against an influential woman named Ariane Fouchécourt who ignored her when she as a teenager was performing a music piece which could have given her a future as a musician, comes walking into the life of a family with the intention of getting even with the person she holds responsible for her unsuccessful audition and possibility to achieve her childhood dream, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, subtle character development, rhythmic continuity, mysterious, wickedly romantic and instrumental undertones, profoundly efficient and rarely obscure kiss, understated and memorable acting performances by French actresses Déborah Francois and Catherine Frot and the fine acting performances by French actor Pascal Greggory and French actress Julie Richalet. A gracious, cinematographic and accomplished psychological drama.

This is something I didn't think I was going to see, a Hitchcokian film from a foreign country, in this case France, kind of like Rebecca in some ways. Basically, as a child, ten year old Mélanie Prouvost (Julie Richalet) was a very talented piano player, and her parents decided she should sit the Conservatory entrance exam. The piano playing is going well, but then Mélanie is distracted by an autograph hunter wanting a singed photo from accomplished piano player and jury member Ariane (Catherine Frot), and when Mélanie starts playing again she starts going all over the place. Ten years pass since she failed her exam, with no criticism from the fellow jury members to Ariane, or her apology, twenty year old Mélanie (Déborah François) is working for a law firm. Chief lawyer Jean Fouchécourt (Pascal Greggory) needs someone to take care of his twelve year old son Tristan (Antoine Martynciow) during vacation time, and Mélanie offers her services. At their château outside Paris, she recognises that bitchy jury member Ariane as Jean's wife, recovering from a hit and run accident, and trying to reunite her music trio. With her ability to read music, and having established herself as a member of the family, Ariane is pleased to have Mélanie as her page turner. Of course when Mélanie gets her chance, she manages to spoil the second trio performance and turn Ariane into a nervous wreck, and there is no settled ending, well, Mélanie gets away with all and no punishment. Also starring Clotilde Mollet as Virginie, Xavier De Guillebon as Laurent, Christine Citti as Madame Prouvost and Jacques Bonnaffé as Monsieur Prouvost. The performances by both François and Frot are good, and the revenge element turns this class filled drama into a chilly psychological thriller. Very good!