WHY DID SHE DO IT? THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN TRIES TO ANSWER WHY
In 2004, a late teen Gentile French girl cut herself superficially, used marking pens of swastikas on her body, and told the police that she had been attacked by a group of anti-Semitic boys. The Girl on the Train (La femme du RER), directed by André Téchiné, tries to provide a fictional explanation for the incident on the premise that Jeanne (played by Émilie Dequenne) felt aimless and unloved. The film begins with a description of her home life, her work site, and a love life that involves her with a boyfriend who is stabbed while trying to stop a drug pusher. In contrast, there is a description of a happier Jewish family, consisting of relatives on one side of her family who take the incident in stride. The suspense in the noir film is how a false statement to the police will be punished by the French justice system. MH