The Page Turner

The Page Turner **1/2

Directed by Denis Dercourt
Written by Denis Dercourt and Jacques Sotty

Starring:
Catherine Frot as Ariane Fouchécourt
Deborah Francois as Mélanie Prouvost
Pascal Greggory as Jean Fouchécourt
Xavier De Guillebon as Laurent
Christine Citti as Madame Prouvost
Clotilde Mollet as Virginie

85 Minutes(Not Rated-Brief Nudity and Violence, Adult Themes)
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One thing is for certain, and that is that "The Page Turner" is not dull at all. It is interesting, constantly engaging, with very good performances and a couple of intriguing turns along the way. The fatal flaw, and the one that makes it not worthy of a recommendation, is that there is no real reason for everything that happens to happen, and the reason that is given at the start doesn't seem to justify the extreme lengths at which our main character goes to get her revenge. And at this "The Page Turner" is a revenge story that made me think about the little things that I have done in past that could have someone looking for revenge one day. Because the person that did the main character wrong didn't really do anything wrong in the first place-and if she did it was unintentional. She didn't deserve it, and the main character was almost unsympathetic.

"The Page Turner" tells the "tragic" tale of Mélanie Prouvost. The daughter of a butcher, as a child she was a very gifted piano player. She would play so beautifully that everyone would listen, and her chances of getting into a piano school seemed locked and loaded. However on the day of her try-out, she is in the middle of her piece, when somebody comes in asking for the autograph of Ariane Fouchécourt, one of the judges at the panel. The fan doesn't even ask-she just walks in and gives the paper to Ariane who signs it quickly. This distracts Melanie, who ends up screwing everything up after the fan leaves, destroying her chances at getting into the school. Years later she goes to work as an intern at a law firm where she gets the chance to babysit for the boss, Jean Fouchécourt. Jean allows Melanie to move in with him and she begins to watch his son, whose mother is none other than Ariane Fouchécourt. One day when Ariane is playing piano Melanie makes it known that she could read music, and Ariane makes Melanie her official page turner-at all the concerts she will turn the page for her so that Ariane would not get distracted. And thus begins Melanie's plan, which will hopefully end up ruining Ariane's life, work, and relationship with her family.

The problem is just that the beginning doesn't justify the means. I could not feel any sympathy for the large extents that Melanie goes to plot her revenge because I didn't really see Ariane do anything wrong. In my eyes, Melanie was distracted the second this fan walked into the room to get the autograph, and there was nothing that Ariane could have done about that. It wasn't a big deal that Melanie couldn't get into the piano school. It wasn't like her family was poor and she needed to go to the school for an education or because it would have been her last chance to be poor. If that character was developed a little more, I may have been allowed to care about what she does. In addition, Ariane did not seem like a bad enough person to have all of this happen to her. The final twist is amateur at best, and even her revenge plot is nothing special. The final scenes are something that a twelve year old could have predicted halfway through, and certainly do not make the ninety minutes worthwhile. The only thing that "The Page Turner" could be considered is an short and entertaining way to spend time, and for a French thriller it doesn't create a heavy amount of tension or intrigue, something that last years "Lemming" did extremely well. A weak script makes "The Page Turner" only mildly interesting, but it doesn't have enough substance to be worthwhile.