The Woman in the Fifth (2011) (Review)

The Woman in the Fifth (2011) is a drama-mystery starring Ethan Hawke. Right! Here we go with a mishmash of what I thought of this failed film:I don’t think it’s easy to adapt such a strange novel. But I’m convinced that it’s a bad, very loose adaptation of an uninteresting novel by a Douglas Kennedy on the verge of inspiration… Although it’s amusing to see Ethan Hawke stammering in French, I didn’t understand what this woman from the 5th had to do with this simple, uninspired story of a father who just wants to get closer to his daughter. There are some good supporting characters (Joanna Kulig and Samir Guesmi) and the film is well directed, but I wasn’t at all impressed by the little effect the script uses to explain our character’s troubles. It’s long, dull and clumsy; it’s neither a fantasy film, nor a thriller, nor a psychological drama, only a kind of insipid cat mush. Only the aesthetic quality is respected: framing, colors, well-worked sets. Kristin Scott Thomas makes a few notable appearances for her charm and aura, but don’t go overboard! People talk about her as if she were a goddess. Personally, I don’t see her that way, and I don’t understand how she can find herself in so many sex scenes, whether in The English Patient or here. It’s as if she wanted to waste her potential, given that she’s super-intelligent and very bilingual. This film is half in English, half in French. It’s about an American in Paris trying to get by in French. Plenty of elements to make an interesting film, but it’s French boredom that quickly takes over. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, We’re bored from start to finish, and we don’t understand certain situations that are never explained and that could have given the film some shape.What a pity!Producing a thick mystery to the point of indigestion, mired in a sickly and unwelcome slowness, riddled with heavy-handed auteurist tics, this is the prototype of the so-called “indie-intello” film, content with its little effects, not endearing for a penny and without the slightest self-deprecation. A real waste of time. The film has been compared to Polanski’s, just because I’m a Polish director… but we’re a long way from that…Kristin Scott-Thomas overplays her character, identical to dozens of others she’s already played: the femme fatale, strong with her more or less well-masked cracks. She’s downright annoying. As for Ethan Hawke, it’s amazing that such a fine actor can be as expressive as a lawnmower, making us smile (yellow) at his troubles; as for Samir Guesmi, he makes us cringe in his role as the villain, rolling his junkie eyes. In short, we’re on the verge of a catastrophe! One good point: the film is short, so the ordeal doesn’t last three hours !This film is incomprehensible and leaves the viewer clueless. I found it very disturbing. You get bored very quickly in the middle of the film, and the main character’s behavior is really too vague. There’s really no point to this film, unless you’re an insomniac or need to fill up the garbage can, because it seems too empty (just like this story!).