The Page Turner

Tight as a clenched fist ready to bloody someone's eye, intelligent, crystal clear in its intentions and actions, Denis Dercourt's terrific "The Page Turner" is wicked, perverse and anti-social in the very best sense. Like the best anti-heroes, Melanie Prouvost (a chilly, single-minded, Deborah Francois) knows what she wants, knows what/who her target is and knows how to achieve her goals. And in this case her target is the famous, though emotionally and professionally fragile classical pianist, Ariane Fouchecourt (sexy, sophisticated, sleek, tragic Catherine Frot) and by extension Ariane's family: husband Jean (Pascal Greggory) and her son, also a pianist, Laurent.
Melanie is out for total annihilation and her methods are as subtle as a Cobra ingesting defenseless small birds: there is no way that her prey can escape.
Director/Screenwriter Dercourt has fashioned a film that is tightly paced (a mere 94 minutes, not one ounce of fat here) and expertly acted but what is particularly impressive in its humanity and its knowing appreciation of the workings of the human mind is the reason, the impetus for Melanie's campaign against Ariane.

French film `The Page Turner' plays at a perfect pace. Methodically, we get a drama about lost opportunities that have movements of significance in people's lives. As a composite the story hits all the right notes.

Melanie (Deborah Francois) is a child prodigy. She awaits her big chance to make it as a pianist. At a large try-out, she plays beautifully until someone walks in with a photo for one of the judges to sign. Then, she falters. From that heartbreaking moment, the film leaps ahead to a movement in her life many years later when she gets a job as a secretary apprentice at a law firm. Neatly, she overhears that her employer, Jean (Pascal Gregory) needs a caretaker for Tristan, his only son. He instantly accepts her overture to fill the position, and her whole life changes. In their countryside mansion outside of Paris, she hooks up with all the charm of being a caretaker and assistant. Since both of Melanie's parents are butchers, she takes easily to cooking fare for the family. Her role expands, though. Luck has it that his wife, Ariane (Catherine Fro) is a concert pianist, and Melanie is able to give Tristan some piano lessons. From here her meticulousness lends itself to other privileged duties up to and including the entrusted role of page turner for Ariane's consequential radio concert. Like a fairy tale, they both bond, and Ariane assists Melanie with make-up and perfume. Melanie has a special touch to encourage Tristan to push himself and help Ariane to get over her trepidation to perform after a car accident two years earlier made her falter on stage. Can Ariane and Melanie deliver each other from their past?

Everything doesn't always go well, but the development and outcome are meant to be seen. 'The Page Turner' reminded me of the sort of movie that could easily become a hall-of-fame winner for 'The Lifetime Channel'. With subtlety and understatement, 'The Page Turner' is indeed a classic.

Twelve-year-old Melanie Prouvost is determined to become a world-class pianist. She practices with a single-mindedness which is daunting. She arrives with her mother at a conservatory where she will perform a difficult piece before a panel of judges. Many other children are competing. If she wins, her chances for a wonderful career will lie in front of her. As she takes her place at the piano and begins, one of the judges, a famous concert pianist, motions in a fan who wants an autograph. The judge whispers something, takes out a pen, thinks a moment, writes on the photo and returns it to the fan. Melanie's concentration is broken. She stops, tries to recover and performs badly. Afterwards, the judge simply comments that there was no reason for Melanie to stop. On the way out of the conservatory, Melanie suddenly pushes down the key cover on a piano when another girl is practicing, nearly crushing the girl's fingers. Melanie arrives home and locks her piano for good.

Several years later, Melanie (Deborah François), now a striking young woman, applies for and is accepted as an intern in a law office. She learns a senior partner needs someone to look after his young son while he is away for several weeks on business. His wife works and cannot always be available. When Melanie says she'd happily look after the boy, she is accepted. And when she arrives at the country manor, 25 miles outside Paris, we learn that the mother was in an auto accident and is still emotionally fragile. The woman, Ariane Fouchecourt (Catherine Frot), indeed works. She is a world-class pianist who now performs as part of a trio. And, yes, she was the judge who so thoughtlessly ruined Melanie's life ambition. She doesn't even remember the incident. Now we realize Melanie remembers all too well.

All along we've noted how quiet Melanie is. She observes; sometimes there will be the smallest of smiles. Melanie becomes almost indispensable to Ariane, who suffers stage fright now. Melanie becomes her page turner, the person who sits next to a pianist and turns the pages of the score as the pianist plays on. She begins to give Ariane confidence. We're not sure where the movie is heading. All we know is that a number of uneasy things happen that could be explained away. Melanie gains the confidence of Tristan, the boy, but twice seems to place him in positions of peril that don't quite happen. She opens some letters and smiles just a bit, but we're not sure why. She subtly seems to be almost wooing Ariane, yet shows no particular interest. We remember Melanie is the daughter of butchers and know she must be familiar with slicing into meat. Does this mean we'll soon be watching her turn Tristan into lamb chops? The movie keeps us off balance. While it's possible that at some point we'll realize that Melanie still loves the piano and we may end with her giving Ariane back confidence while Ariane decides to work with Melanie on a career for her, we also realize that the movie just might end the way Claude Chabrol's La Cérémonie does, with a slaughter fired by resentment and rage.

No one dies in this movie, just the soul of one of the characters. The Page Turner is a not-quite-a-thriller thriller, and is all the more disturbing because of it. François and Frot give marvelous performances, with François unnervingly calm and Frot fragile to a fault. This was only Deborah François' second movie. At 19, she almost out-Hupperts Isabelle Huppert.

There is some great music in the movie. The trio, with Melanie as the page turner for Ariane, does a rehearsal of Shostakovich's opus 67, trio in E minor. It's terrific. The Page Turner is almost as good at keeping us off balance.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 24 reviews  3.5 out of 5 stars