Girl on the Train, The

About The Film

Based on sensational real life events, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is a powerful ensemble piece tracing the fallout from a false claim of anti-Semitic violence. Directed by veteran French auteur André Téchiné, the film centers on Jeanne (Émilie Dequenne), a self-absorbed young woman who fabricates a story about being mistaken for a Jew and attacked on a train. A jobless freewheeler, Jeanne lives in the Paris suburbs with her mother (Catherine Deneuve). While Jeanne falls for an aspiring wrestler (Nicolas Duvauchelle), her mother hopes her daughter will be hired by renowned lawyer Blumenstein (Michel Blanc), a defender of Jewish causes, and his high-strung ex-daughter-in-law (Ronit Elkabetz). Gradually, Jeanne becomes a prisoner of her mother’s dream, until opposing worlds collide in an act of deception that exposes ethnic and social class lines, and recriminating questions about media credibility.