I want to like Kristin Scott Thomas, I really do. I think Sarah’s Key was one of the most moving films of last year and she’s fine (if rather forgettable) in things like Gosford Park and The Other Boleyn Girl. And if I’m thinking about it, she’s the reason I actually watched this film. It’s in French too and therefore my brain assumed it would be as good as Sarah’s Key. Yeah… not so much.
The Woman in the Fifth is about a man (played by Ethan Hawke who was rather awesome in Gattaca). As the film begins we see him going through customs – apparently he’s moving to Paris to be with his wife and daughter, who live there. That’s all well and good except it turns out they have a restraining order against him. Sad times. So, after he’s randomly robbed of everything except the clothes he’s standing in he’s forced to stay in some sleazy café/hotel on the outskirts of the city run by some kind of criminal. That he then has to work for to pay the bills. It all kind of goes wrong for him after that.
At a party, he meets an enigmatic woman, with whom he starts up a very vague sort of sexual relationship. This is ‘the woman in the fifth’, the fifth being the fifth arrondissement - an area in Paris. I don’t quite understand what’s going on there as she doesn’t really get very much air time but for some reason she becomes very important to him.
Not a lot happens in this film really - most of the time we see him writing a letter to his daughter. Most of what does happen is pointless and strange and seems to have very little motive behind it.
I’m giving up on French cinema.
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