Watch The Page Turner For Free

Let's be realistic.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This movie has a hypnotic quality that makes it compelling right from the start and its story about a young woman with an agenda that's driven by an incident from her past is totally gripping and extremely disturbing. Director Denis Dercourt does a great job as he skilfully creates an uneasy atmosphere and also mirrors the kind of meticulous approach that the woman employs as she seeks to exact revenge on the person that she holds responsible for ruining her chances of having a career as a classical pianist.Melanie Prouvost (Julie Richalet) was a talented 10-year-old pianist who auditioned for entry to a prestigious conservatory in Paris where the judging panel was chaired by the famous and well-respected concert pianist Ariane Fouchecourt (Catherine Frot). The audition started well but Ariane insensitively disrupted Melanie's performance when she signalled an autograph hunter to come into the room and, in so doing, caused Melanie to lose concentration and fail her exam. The young girl, who was naturally devastated, went home, locked her piano lid and immediately gave up her musical studies.Ten years later, Melanie (Deborah Francois) is taken on as an intern in the law firm which is headed by Ariane's husband Jean (Pascal Greggory) and when she hears that he needs someone to look after his son while he's away on business for a few weeks, Melanie volunteers for the job. At Jean's luxurious country mansion, she discovers that Ariane has become emotionally fragile after her involvement in a car accident and had suffered with stage fright ever since. Ariane doesn't recognise Melanie but soon comes to appreciate her work as she plays tennis with her son and helps with his piano studies.When she discovers that Melanie can read music and is more than capable as a "page turner", Ariane starts to gain more confidence about an important radio concert that she's due to perform in as part of a trio and the two women become closer as Melanie becomes indispensable to Ariane in a number of ways. The cool, calm and calculating Melanie pursues her aims in a very determined and seemingly detached way until appropriately, she achieves her objective, partially by getting Ariane to sign an autograph and exploiting the same vanity and conceit that the older woman had displayed years earlier at Melanie's fateful audition."The Page Turner" is elegant, subtle and cleverly understated but is also clearly influenced in its style by Claude Chabrol and the sequence at the end of the movie where Melanie walks away from the mansion is reminiscent of a scene featuring Stephane Audran at the end of "La Femme Infidele" (1969). Similarly, a Hitchcockian influence is evident in the early part of the movie where natural sympathy with Melanie's predicament later causes the audience to feel conflicted about her actions (in the same way that Alfred Hitchcock did in "Psycho" with Marion Crane's character).The quality of the acting in this movie is consistently high but naturally, because of the significance of their roles, Catherine Frot and Deborah Francois stand out. Frot creditably makes the self-regarding, insensitive Ariane that we see at the beginning of the story every bit as convincing as the vulnerable and nervous woman that she later becomes and Francois is absolutely mesmerising as the placid-looking Melanie who so cruelly gets her revenge by damaging the lives of all three members of Ariane's family. Rarely can there have ever been a home invasion drama in which the invaded were so oblivious to what was going on and where the invader succeeded so comprehensively in what they set out to do.

The girl Mélanie Prouvost (Déborah François) is the beloved daughter of the butchers Mrs. Prouvost (Christine Citti) and Mr. Prouvost (Jacques Bonnaffé). She is an aspirant pianist and her parents make her application to the Conservatory. During the entrance exam, she begins with a great performance but she is distracted by one member of the admittance board, Ariane (Catherine Frot), who is giving an autograph, and she fails.Years later, Mélanie is a teenager that has just finished high-school and she is accepted as intern of the law firm owned by the prominent lawyer Mr. Fouchécourt (Pascal Greggory). Mélanie overhears that he needs someone to take care of his son Tristan (Antoine Martynciow) and she offers to the position. She needs to travel to another town and when she arrives at the manor, she is welcomed by Ariane, who is the wife of Mr. Fouchécourt. She does not recognize Mélanie and soon she becomes Ariane's page turner, in the beginning of her carefully planned revenge against the woman that destroyed her dreams."La tourneuse de pages", a.k.a. "The Page Turner", is a stylish thriller of passion, seduction and revenge. This is almost a perfect movie, with great direction, screenplay and cast. The music score with classics is another attraction of this wonderful movie. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): Not Available

Denis Dercourt both wrote (with Jacques Sotty) and directed this very low key but very devastating tale of concentrated revenge. It has a tight script, a cast of very fine actors, and a pacing that holds the audience to the story wondering how the 'plan' will work out in the end. 10-year-old Mélanie (Julie Richalet) is a gifted piano student, the daughter of a butcher and his wife, whose studies provide her with the opportunity to enter the academy if she is successful in winning an audition. At the audition the chief judge is the accomplished pianist Ariane Fouchécourt (Catherine Frot) who allows an autograph seeker to disrupt Mélanie's audition, a disruption that results in breaking Mélanie's concentration: she does not win the audition and moreover she gives up the piano altogether. 10 years later Mélanie (the very beautiful Déborah François) works as an intern in a wealthy lawyer's office - M. Fouchécourt (Pascal Greggory) - who happens to be married to Ariane, now with a terrible stage fright because of an accident. When M. Fouchécourt needs a nanny to care for his young son Tristan (Antoine Martynciow), Mélanie ask for the job and moves to the mansion in the country where she tends after Tristan and admires Ariane's practicing. Ariane is preparing a concert in a trio with violinist and cellist wife and husband (Christine Citti and Jacques Bonnaffé). Ariane fears the performance but finds security when Mélanie offers to turn pages for her. A strong bond forms between the two, a bond that appears to go beyond music, and the concert results in success. The manner in which Mélanie works her way into Ariane's need and her response to advances made by the married cellist begin to divulge the intention of Mélanie's involvement with the Fouchécourt family. How she choreographs her revenge for her childhood disappointment is the direction the story takes to its end. Aside from the obvious fact that this film is in many ways an intense psychological thriller, the other joys offered are some excerpts from the music of Shostakovich, Bach, and Schubert. Each of the actors is superb and the manner in which director Dercourt leads us through this maze of belated revenge is truly fine filmmaking. Grady Harp

First of all, if you take revenge, your victim should know for what reason revenge is taken. In this story this remains a complete mystery for the concert pianist. So, what is the use of revenge? Furthermore, the wrong person is punished: in fact, it was the autograph seeker, blatantly storming into the room where the audition was held, who was so rude to intrude herself into the privacy of the concert. In fact the only thing Madame Fouchecourt could do is just sign and get rid of the autograph seeker as soon as possible. Lastly, if you love both music and playing the piano you don't give up a career so easily, only because you were kept out of your concentration, you just start again. So the base of the story is very unrealistic. And than that scene with the cellist, horrible. No, a very silly film.