The Page Turner

Mélanie is a butcher's daughter and plays the piano at ten. She sits the conservatory audition. The head of the jury is a famous pianist; while the audition is under way she signs an autograph for an admirer and the girl's concentration breaks. Mélanie fails and that day she closes the lid of the piano and never opens it again. Years pass. As a young woman she takes an internship at a law office; the wife of the head of the firm is that pianist. The woman takes her into her house, asks her to look after her child, then to turn the pages at concerts. Mélanie says nothing and does everything asked. Denis Dercourt writes and directs. Catherine Frot and Déborah François are in the cast. It is a French production. The director is a viola player himself and taught music; the chamber work in the film is built with that knowledge. The narrative builds its tension not through violence but through closeness; Mélanie never threatens, she only becomes indispensable. Page turning is at the centre; the person standing beside the pianist on stage is invisible to an audience, and the film turns that around. The narrative gives away the reason at the start and takes its tension from waiting rather than from not knowing. Its limit is the ending; the close is quiet enough to feel insufficient to some viewers. It is short and carries nothing surplus. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet French thrillers and narratives grounded in music. Who it is not for: it is slow, has little event, and is cold for a viewer expecting revenge.