Lovesusti
The Worst Film Ever
Matrixiole
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Adeel Hail
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
Dale Haufrect
"La Tourneuse De Pages", "The Page Turner" is a very well made drama from the year 2006. Ariane (played by Catherine Frot is the accomplished pianist who has suffered psychological trauma in an earlier car accident. Her husband, M. Fouchecourt (played by Pascal Greggory) is a prominent attorney who is very protective of his wife. And Deborah Francois plays the beautiful Melanie who has an interesting and meaningful tryst with with her mentor in this thought provoking French drama. The majority of the film takes place at the mansion or Ariane and M. Fouchecourt. It is a spectacular place with beautiful photography of the grounds. The music is a delight to hear, and one can be certain to enjoy this film.
dcfemella
The Page Turner was directed by Denise Dercourt, who won awards for his other film Lise et Andre. It starts off with Melanie, a little girl who has hopes to getting a full scholarship to an esteemed music school by playing piano. She is passionate and it shows in the way that she plays. The audience has no doubts that she will make it in. Her dreams are tarnished when one of the judges, Ariane Fouchecourt, disrupts her concentration by accepting an autograph in the middle of her recital. She never plays piano again. We see her later as a teenager, who is working as an intern for a successful lawyer. The secretary who she works under tells her that the lawyer needs someone to watch his son, so Melanie takes the job. His wife? The judge who made her lose her dreams. In the beginning we are not sure what Melanie's intentions are, but then we soon realize that it is revenge.The movie dragged, and I kept waiting for the pace to pick up. The interaction between the two main characters could have been a little bit emotion than what we are shown. I understand that it was suppose to be an escalating suspense, but I feel that it lacked a climax. If it were a book, I would have already put it down waiting for "AHA" moment. It seems that too many movies are lacking good scenes until the end. Also, many people seem to have short memories, so they ignore how bored they were for the past 95 minutes, and are happy because the ending was good. The movie did have a denouement, and I was happy for that. Another thing that I liked about the film is that it showed that in revenge, the avenger and the avengee have their good and bad points. My parents loved this film, and I can see why. However, it wasn't for me.
Galina
"LaTourneuse de pages" aka "The Page Turner", (2006) directed by Denis Dercourt is a clever, elegant, entertaining French psychological drama/revenge/thriller, short but satisfying. It was made by a writer/director who has been a professional musician, both a performer and a teacher, who knows and loves classical music and makes it a very important part of all his movies. Prélude en ré mineur by Johann Sebastian Bach and Shostakovich's opus 67, trio in E minor that sound in "The Page Turner" are marvelous.The film brings to mind such excellent and diverse films as "The Piano Player ", "Notes on a Scandal", and "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant" but it is very good on its own terms thanks to the pitch perfect performances by two main characters and supporting cast and exquisite subtlety in exploring the familiar subject of long awaited and perfectly executed revenge. 19 years old Belgian actress Déborah François gives an absolutely stunning performance as Mélanie Prouvost, a self-possessed, attractive, efficient, and well mannered young woman with a sweet quiet smile, refined soft voice, graceful movements, impeccable taste and appreciation for fine quality of things. Mélanie is very observant, smart, and it did not take her long to become an indispensable asset, a trusted page turner for her new boss, Ariane Fouchecour (Catherine Frot). Ariane is a renowned concert pianist who now performs in a trio and is vulnerable and fragile after having survived an auto crash. Little did Ariane know that the girl who had charmed the whole family with her tactfulness, efficiency, and loyalty, has a long memory that goes as far as ten years back when young Melanie (Julie Richalet also gave memorable performance as young Melanie) dreamed of becoming a famous pianist, tried to pass the Conservatory entrance exam with Ariane as a president of the jury. Melanie got distracted by Ariane having signed an autograph for a fan during her performance and failed the exam. She never touched the piano again and she never forgot the day and the person that had changed her life ...Both actresses were outstanding, and François was a revelation in her only second role which is also her second award winning performance in the row. One of the reviewers mentions that she "almost out-Hupperts Isabelle Huppert" as the page turner. The gifted young actress justly deserves this praise. I hope that she has a great future ahead of her and I will be waiting for her following movies.
barnesgene
Responding to Alison's request for the name of the Shostakovich piece played, it is his Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Opus 67. It's Shostakovich in rare "Jewish" mode (he was not Jewish, but when he used Jewish idioms it was usually to commemorate a Jewish friend). I have a recording of it played by the Beaux Arts Trio, and it's very fine. And it's 24 minutes long, not the 2 minute excerpt played in the Radio France concert in the movie. Sadly, and for no reason I can detect, the composer of the film's incidental music found it necessary to intrude and impose his "talents" on this and other established classics, rendering the effect of the Bach, Schubert, and Shostakovich pieces fairly impotent. Not this guy's finest hour, by any means.Oh, and the equally brief excerpt of a Schubert Piano Trio played for the American in the movie -- that's one of two he wrote in his maturity, and the two are easily found recorded by many artists. Two recommended recordings are the Stern-Rose-Istomin Trio and again the Beaux Arts Trio.Although a bad page turner can be deadly during a concert, the performer really ought to know the piece well enough to be able to play through a page break up to the next opportunity to turn the page oneself. That is the central disconnect with real life that this movie displays. And if the pianist is so shell-shocked from her accident that she gets stage fright so easily, she really would not be able to last very long on the concert circuit in any event. In that respect, Melanie actually did Ariane a big favor by doing what she did. So there's lots to puzzle about in this movie, things that strike directly at the heart of characters' motivations and so weaken the story.
