The Girl on the Train (2010)

She lives -- and gets along well -- with her mom, Louise (Catherine Deneuve). Louise learns that an old friend (flame?), named Bleistein (Michel Blanc), is working as a lawyer and Jeanne interviews for a job in his firm. At the same time, she meets the very aggressive Franck (Nicolas Duvauchelle) and embarks upon an intense relationship with him.

Things get a bit complicated from there. Franck gets jobs for them both as caretakers, but there are drugs involved, and the job takes a turn for the worse. Then, we get a subplot about Bleistein's son Alex (Mathieu Demy), the son's Israeli ex-wife, Judith (Ronit Elkabetz), who works for Bleistein, and their 12-year-old son, Nathan (Jeremie Quaegebeur).

These folks are less a subplot, than they are there for atmosphere, and a certain kind of tension. After losing Franck, a desperate, depressed Jeanne gets the idea to pretend that she has been the victim of an anti-Semitic attack on a subway car, even though her character is not Jewish. (This was apparently based on a real incident, as well as a play inspired by that incident.)

Her act causes a bit of trouble, but thankfully Téchiné does not focus on it; instead he's interested in the truthful reactions of the characters, their combination of hurt and relief. The most surprising and interesting reaction comes from young Nathan, though the nature of this reaction is better left for viewers to discover for themselves.