What starts as not even a brief encounter but just mere eye contact across a crowded train carriage followed by one quick question, leads into a 24 hour romantic liaison that neither of the two strangers expected. Alix is a beautiful middle-aged actress who is commuting between Calais where she is currently performing in an Ibsen play, and Paris where she lives with Antoine her boyfriend of 7 years. She is heading back to the city for an audition for a movie and spend a few hours with him and also borrow some money as she is working for a small Fringe company who cannot pay her. Asides from her bank debit card not working, she has no cash at all and has also left her cellphone charger back in Calais. She is a mess and rather distracted to say the least. He on the other hand (Douglas, but we do not learn his name until the end) is a 60-something-year-old serious looking Brit who is making his way to the Basilca of Sainte Clotilde in Saint-Germain-des-Prés to attend a funeral. Alix only discovers the last part when on a whim and running out of options that day, decides to go and take another look at him. Mistaken for one of the mourners she joins the Wake at a nearby Bar and finally the two of them talk.
Alix is a good actress as we have already seen her turn in a couple of powerful performances for the audition, and we are unsure if this immediate attraction to this craggy faced man 20 years her senior is just another role for her to play. After they have hooked up in his hotel room, its obvious to the pair of them, that as tender and romantic as their lovemaking was, that this cannot and will not lead to anything else beyond today.
She leaves him to go tap her up her estranged elder sister for money, but as desperate as she is for cash just to get through the day she still gets into a nasty fight with her, once again asserting her independence. And then she rushes back for another brief alliance with Douglas. When he gently rebukes her for stalking him, she somewhat indignantly responds ‘I went and found you, that’s different.’ It is to Douglas that she finally reveals the secret that has obviously been troubling her and which she wants to share with Antoine who has been playing phone-tag with her all day.
These two somewhat lonely souls who initially seem the most unlikely pair of lovers have this diverting ‘brief encounter’ that seems as doomed as Laura and Alec in David Lean’s 1945 classic, although this contemporary French take will not garner any Oscar nominations like the original. But the reason this rather slight story works so well is due to the key performances of the very vivacious Emmanuelle Devos as Alex and the slightly grumpy looking Gabriel Byrne as the rather reserved Daniel.
It all happens on the longest day of the year which is quite as well as they have a lot to pack in before Alex has to catch the train back to Calais and Ibsen.
★★★★★★★
