The Woman in the Fifth (2012)
Starring Ethan Hawke, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joanna Kulig and Samir Guesmi
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***
Let me be honest and upfront here with this one...I'm not quite sure what I watched with The Woman in the Fifth. The story begins rather straightforward -- or so it seems -- when struggling American writer/college professor Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke) moves to Paris to be closer to his daughter whom his ex-wife has taken away from him (perhaps not without justification). After a rough first encounter with his ex and an even rougher ride on a Parisian bus, Tom finds himself with his luggage stolen and hardly a penny to his name. In a more industrial (read: grittier) part of town, Tom wanders into a bar/coffee shop/hotel run by Sezer (Samir Guesmi) and convinces him to allow him to reside there for a bit. While essentially stalking his ex-wife and his daughter, Tom wanders the streets of Paris and meets an American bookshop owner who convinces him to come to a literary party he's throwing. Tom obliges and while at the party he meets Margit (Kristin Scott Thomas) and is instantly drawn to her. They begin a torrid affair...and that's when things start to unravel for Tom. Not only may Margit not be who she says she is, but Tom himself may not be the man he always thought he was.
There's something utterly intriguing about The Woman in the Fifth that had I watched it on another evening I might have found pretentious. But, for some reason, I found myself fully involved in the goings-on of the plot. That said, I'm still not fully sure of what actually happened in the movie. What starts as a rather normal, formulaic film ends up being a bit more of a mindf*ck than I was expecting.
Ethan Hawke anchors the film with a strong performance as the beleaguered dad Tom who only wants to spend time with his daughter...so why won't his ex-wife let him? We in the audience don't know the answer to that and Tom doesn't seem to know either, but Hawke does a nice job of creating a bit of a sense of mystery, while at the same time crafting a full, well-rounded character. Kristin Scott Thomas has a pivotal role, but it's a much smaller one than I'd been led to believe it would be. Margit is a mystery and remains one even after the film is over and because of that, Scott Thomas is never quite able to create a persona with which we can identify (which I realize is likely the point, but it leaves us feeling rather cold about her character as a whole). There's also a nice performance from Joanna Kulig (whom I recently saw in this film) as Sezer's employee and lover who begins to fall for Tom to perhaps disastrous consequences.
The Woman in the Fifth is an odd film and one that I can't recommend to all, but what it does is leave the viewer with a sense of mystery that lingers quite a bit after watching it. And sometimes a movie that doesn't answer all the questions it poses is as thought-provoking as one that spells everything out for you.
Ethan Hawke anchors the film with a strong performance as the beleaguered dad Tom who only wants to spend time with his daughter...so why won't his ex-wife let him? We in the audience don't know the answer to that and Tom doesn't seem to know either, but Hawke does a nice job of creating a bit of a sense of mystery, while at the same time crafting a full, well-rounded character. Kristin Scott Thomas has a pivotal role, but it's a much smaller one than I'd been led to believe it would be. Margit is a mystery and remains one even after the film is over and because of that, Scott Thomas is never quite able to create a persona with which we can identify (which I realize is likely the point, but it leaves us feeling rather cold about her character as a whole). There's also a nice performance from Joanna Kulig (whom I recently saw in this film) as Sezer's employee and lover who begins to fall for Tom to perhaps disastrous consequences.
The Woman in the Fifth is an odd film and one that I can't recommend to all, but what it does is leave the viewer with a sense of mystery that lingers quite a bit after watching it. And sometimes a movie that doesn't answer all the questions it poses is as thought-provoking as one that spells everything out for you.
The RyMickey Rating: B
You're prediction was right--I liked it (that is, after waking up and rewinding to where I had fallen asleep).
ReplyDeleteThere was one scene where Kristin Scott Thomas had the most sinister of looks. My favorite.
Maybe after it has settled in a bit, I'll have a better sense of what I thought happened.
Now it is all kind of floating around.
I can totally see why you'd fall asleep...it's an odd movie that is difficult to pinpoint exactly what I liked about it.
ReplyDeleteIs any of it real? The wife tells the daughter that her dad was "locked away" or "in prison." Is all of this a dream from his mental institution/prison cell?
Was he out of prison and Margit was some type of figure he created to "give him permission" to kill the guy found in the bathroom?
I don't know what I watched...