Review of The Woman in the Fifth (2011) by Michael D — 28 Feb 2015
This is a lovely unsettling and terse examination of a character "under the influence" of ... something. We follow Tom Ricks around Paris, he's there to re-connect with his six-year-old daughter and estranged wife.
Mishap befalls Rick played by Ethan Hawke -- one of America's finest actors of his age group. We see Rick lose his belongings and money and he is seemingly freindless and without resources we see him enter into relations with a sordid group of people, in turn more and more less appealing.
It's confusing since he is a successful professor and published author. So, why is he utterly without anyone who could lend a helping hand? Perhps one line about "burning bridges" etc. would have helped.
.. He consorts with a hostile scheming arab man who tries to frame him for a murder the arab had committed and out of sheer loneliness shacks up with a Polish bar keep, however, it is quite passionless.
His passions are reserved for Margit played by Kristen Scott Thomas who is seductive, older, and apparantly has ice water cursing through her veins... if she even exists at all. At turns we see the influence of various other writers and directors: Polanski, Lynch, even Hitchcock.
.. yet, those influences hold no key to understanding Tom Ricks. Just like hearing one boot falling on a floor we are left waiting for the other one to fall. Is Tom Ricks delusional, has he had a break from reality, is he mentally ill? Is he recovering from a fall and descent into madness and incapable of digging his way out? Are his problems real or imagined? What does this have to say about the audience? Do we also discard what is inacceptable and create illusions about our past and present to cope with our inablity to accept life's cruelty and defeats? How are we similar to Tom Ricks? This art film will keep you guessing answers to these and other questions.
Thankfully, Ethan Hawke chose this film to act in and with his performance he was strong and resiliant enough to force the audience to perhaps think of these things long enough -- and to not only create a character but forge something imagined and beneath the surface, undefined.
A wonderful film that should not fly under your radar.
This review of The Woman in the Fifth (2011) was written by Michael D on 28 Feb 2015.
The Woman in the Fifth has generally received mixed reviews.
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