Roman de gare (2008)

Ghost Busting

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

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Claude Lelouch has directed many films, but forever lives in the shadow of his one international breakout hit, A Man and a Woman (1966). This new film isn't exactly a return to form; it's more like a pretty good attempt at a Hitchcockian thriller, even if it strains credibility once too often. The ghostwriter (Dominique Pinon) for a famous author (Fanny Ardant) picks up a girl (Audrey Dana) at a truck stop and comes up with a new idea for a novel -- his own. A serial killer comes into it as well as deception and a disappearance, but Lelouch is terrible at leading his viewers astray. Still, thanks to the able cast and crisp cinematography, it's mostly unpretentious and reasonably entertaining.

Starring: Dominique Pinon, Fanny Ardant, Audrey Dana, Zinedine Soualem, Michele Bernier, Myriam Boyer, Boris Ventura Diaz, Marc Rioufol, Thomas Le Douarec
Written by: Claude Lelouch, Pierre Uytterhoeven
Directed by: Claude Lelouch
MPAA Rating: R for brief language and sexual references
Language: French, with English subtitles
Running Time: 103 minutes
Date: May 9, 2008