Not to sound like Goldiflicks, but when some movies are just too long, and others are too short, it is a pleasure to encounter one that is just right.
At less than 80 minutes, not counting credits, the French film “The Page Turner” is a brisk, thrillingly nasty little piece of work.
We meet Melanie when she’s a young pianist whose promising career is about to be dashed by the rudeness of legendary pianist Ariane, an inattentive judge of Melanie’s big recital. When we catch up with Melanie a decade later, she is a composed woman who has gotten herself hired as the unsuspecting Ariane’s page turner and is obviously up to no good.
The fun in “The Page Turner” is trying to figure out what brand of no good Melanie is up to. Almost nothing overt happens in the film – unless you count the cellist Melanie stabs with his own instrument – but the creepy suspense mounts as Melanie insinuates herself into Ariane’s family.
Why is she sucking up to Ariane’s little boy? Why does she encourage him to play music that’s too difficult for him? What’s the agenda behind the notes Melanie sends Ariane?
There’s a sadomasochistic dimension to lowly Melanie’s mastery over insecure Ariane, but it’s a gentle form of sadomasochism. By the end of the film, Melanie has gotten her revenge not by picking up a knife or spilling her guts to the tabloids, but by hitting Ariane, quite literally, where she lives.
| “The Page Turner”
NOT RATED but contains disturbing images|1 hour, 24 minutes|PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER|Directed by Denis Dercourt; written by Dercourt and Jacques Sotty; in French with subtitles; photography by Jerome Peyrebrune; starring Catherine Frot, Déborah François, Pascal Greggory|Opens today at the Starz FilmCenter.
