The Page Turner

I have started borrowing DVD's from the AFM library a fortnight ago and I just thought I'd share my thoughts about the French films I've been watching lately. First off, "La Tourneuse de Pages" which is translated to "The Page Turner" directed by Denis Dercourt starring Déborah François as Mélanie Prouvost, The Page Turner.

Synopsis:

Mélanie has a simple dream, to be a pianist. This is the reason why, at 10 years old, she and her mother decides to go to the French Conservatory to audition. One of the judges is the famous Ariane Fouchécourt (played by Catherine Frot) who entertains a fan by affixing her autograph on her photo right in the middle of Mélanie's performance. This discourtesy causes Mélanie to lose her concentration and flunk the exam as a result.

Mélanie abandons her love of the piano and it would be a few years later that she'd once again meet Ariane through Monsieur Fouchécourt, Ariane's husband. Mélanie's efforts at work as a file clerk catches M. Fouchécourt's attention and soon takes Mélanie to their mansion to be their son's au pair.

One day, Mélanie finds Ariane sitting in front of the piano, practicing her piece. Noticing that she's having a hard time turning the pages of her sheet music, Mélanie reaches out to help her. Ariane is grateful that Mélanie knows how to read musical notes and takes her to the recital as her page turner.

It is at this first recital together that Mélanie soon discovers Ariane's weakness and takes advantage of it all throughout the rest of the movie. The weakness is Mélanie herself. As the days go by, Ariane finds herself attracted to the young, beautiful and mysterious, Mélanie. Mélanie feeds this attraction until she finally proves that Ariane has grown dependent on her and without warning, leaves Ariane without a page turner amidst another recital. Without Mélanie, Ariane loses her composure and plays the piano as though she is not an acclaimed pianist at all.

By the time Mélanie decides to leave the mansion, Ariane signs an autograph for Mélanie. Mélanie reads the dedication written behind Ariane's photograph and leaves it on M. Fouchécourt's desk for him to find.

The dedication confesses Ariane's feelings for Mélanie and when M. Fouchécourt goes to Ariane with the photograph on his hand for a confrontation, Ariane loses consciousness and drops to the floor.

My Opinion:

To tell you frankly, this is the "first" movie I've seen with a theme of revenge and grudge but didn't use gruesome violence to prove that point. At first, I thought blood was going to be shed at one point or another (being that Mélanie is a butcher's daughter). I also thought that Mélanie was going to express her hatred for Ariane by drowning Ariane's son in the swimming pool. This goes to show that I watch too much American movies. Actually, even Filipino films have that "revenge means killing" theme in most suspense-thriller movies. There was also a hint of sensuality and sexual harassment there, but nothing too pronounced. This is a French movie, so it's quite new for me.

I'm not generalizing. After all, this is just one of the French movies I've seen besides "La Boum". I still have a long list of movies to go before I can finally conclude that French movies are better than American movies or Filipino movies. Better, in the sense that they do not promote hard violence or sex very carelessly.

I have this belief that if movies were more conservative, newscasts were more about "good" news rather than bad, talk shows were more respectful about privacy and "all" TV programs were more suitable for "all" ages at "all" times, then we would have a better world.

But that's just me.