The Man on the Train (2002 film)
The Man on the Train, called Man on the Train in the USA, is a 2002 drama film directed by Patrice Leconte that stars Jean Rochefort and Johnny Hallyday.
Plot
In a little French town, a rough-looking man named Milan arrives alone by train. Suffering a headache, he goes into the pharmacy for aspirin and there meets Manesquier, a cultured bachelor who lives in a large house on his own. As the only hotel has closed, Manesquier offers to put the stranger up for the night. While he is delighted to talk about his life and interests, the taciturn Milan does not say who he is or why he is there. The reason, it is revealed, is because he will link up with three other criminals and rob the town bank.Over the next few days the two very different men start bonding, with Milan introduced to music and poetry and the aesthete Manesquier learning to be tough with women and other men. On the Saturday each is to meet his fate: Manesquier will undergo triple bypass surgery while Milan will join his fellow-criminals in holding up the bank. The robbery is a failure, as the police have been tipped off and Milan is shot down. The operation is also a failure; as Manesquier dies on the table.
In a brief surrealistic coda, each dead man returns to life and their improbable friendship resumes.
Cast
- Johnny Hallyday as Milan, a thief
- Jean Rochefort as Manesquier, a retired teacher
- Jean-François Stévenin as Luigi, a thief
- Charlie Nelson as Max
- Pascal Parmentier as Sadko
- Isabelle Petit-Jacques as Viviane, Manesquier's mistress
- Édith Scob as Manesquier's sister