Roman de Gare

Everyone knows how seriously the French take their authors. Best-selling French novelists are media stars, interviewed on television by fawning talk show hosts. ROMAN DE GARE, veteran director Claude Lelouch's latest film, is a charming thriller; a foray into the lives of a famous novelist and her ghostwriter, both of whom will do anything — and pretend to be anybody — to get their stories written. Author Judith Ralitzer is being interviewed by the Paris police. It seems her ghostwriter may be an escaped serial killer. Meanwhile, a stranger at a gas station seems awfully eager to pick up a woman who's just been abandoned by her fiancé. Like trains that switch tracks at the station, or cars that pause at rest stops before continuing on a different course, the characters in ROMAN DE GARE move through a series of plot twists and turns. No one is exactly who he seems to be. In the spirit of his film, director Lelouch shot ROMAN DE GARE under a “nom de guerre,” only revealing himself as the director at his Cannes Film Festival screening. Lushly filmed in Paris, Cannes, and the vineyards of Burgundy, and starring the always luminous Fanny Ardant, ROMAN DE GARE is a Francophile's delight. (In French with English subtitles) –BB