Artwork courtesy of Tartan Films		The Page Turner (La Tourneuse de Pages)
		The French’s ability to romanticize anything never ceases to amaze, especially when it comes to a tale of cold-blooded revenge.  With a taboo kiss, whispers of lies, and an unfortunate accident with a cello spike, French filmmaker Denis Dercort’s latest offering is no exception to the traditional amorous stereotype.  In The Page Turner (La Tourneuse de Pages), Dercort explores the vengeful world of a young pianist who masters the art of serving her seductive dish of revenge ice cold.
Like most French films, The Page Turner does not rely on a multitude of flashy camera angles or slicked-up editing to capture and keep the attention of its audience.  Instead, Dercort utilizes the old-fashioned combination of complex characters, a slow narrative pace, and a carefully constructed classical score to lure its audience along its cold, calculating path of destruction.  We first encounter young Mélanie Prouvost’ (Julie Richalet) at a piano audition for a music conservatory when she is 10 years-old.  When an inconsiderate woman interrupts the audition asking for the autograph from one of the judges, famous concert pianist Ariane Fouchécourt (Catherine Frot), Mélanie’s concentration is broken, her technically precise performance turns lackluster, and she is ultimately denied admittance to the conservatory.  Fast forward about 10 years, and we find twentysomething Mélanie (now played by Déborah Francois) working as an intern for prominent lawyer Jean Fouchécourt (Pascal Greggory), who just so happens to be Ariane’s husband.  Once Mélanie volunteers to be Ariane’s assistant, she eventually becomes her page turner, and the wheels are set in motion for a slow, chilling game of cat and mouse in the Fouchécourt household.  Because Dercort utilizes such a simplistic visual design, the audience is allowed to focus on the powerful, riveting performances of Frot and Francois, which earned both of them a Cesar nomination (the French equivalent of an Oscar).  Also, by effectively playing off one another, the two actresses come across as the type of sympathetic, seductive, dangerous characters one usually associates with a Hitchcock film.  Overall, The Page Turner is a refreshing change of pace from most of the predictable, over-the-top suspense movies produced by Hollywood today.  Even though the ambiguous ending of Dercort’s thriller might leave you questioning the real meaning behind its autographed message, his film is still a well-written, well-acted thriller that will leave you twisting on the edge of your seat in anticipation.  © Kelly Bartley 2007
Running Time:	85 min.
Release Date:	March 23, 2007 (NY/LA); May 4, 2007 (limited)
MPAA Rating:	R (sexual content, nudity, and language)
Distributor:	Tartan Films
Language:	French with English subtitles