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La Tourneuse de Pages|The Page Turner

Something sinister is brewing

By PETER KEOUGH | April 18, 2007

3.0 Stars

LA TOURNEUSE DE PAGES: Mélanie plays Ariane like a piano, but to what end?

A girl needn’t go to the trouble of losing her leg and replacing it with an assault rifle, à la Grindhouse, to get even. In Belgian director Denis Dercourt’s The Page Turner, all it takes is patience, cunning, and concentrated malice. Ten-year-old Mélanie, the butcher’s wizened daughter, auditions for the conservatory, but one of the judges, famed pianist Ariane Fouchécourt (Catherine Frot), can’t be bothered to pay attention and Melanie is distracted. Ten years later, played by the blank, angelic beauty Déborah François, Mélanie has insinuated herself into Ariane’s household, first as an au pair, then as her page turner at concerts. Let’s just say Mélanie plays Ariane like a piano and the older woman’s feelings soon go beyond the professional. Something sinister is brewing, you can tell by the icy colors, by the lovely but unsettling Bach and Shostakovich, by the reflections of the swimming pool reminiscent of Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People. More ambiguous mood music than page-turning revenge thriller, this dish is ice cold.

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