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The Woman in the Fifth

Release Date 17 Feb 2012 17 Jul 2012

  • User rating
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
  • Critic rating
  • Currently 2/5 Stars.

   

Certificate: PG

Genre:

American writer Tom Ricks comes to Paris desperate to put his life together again and win back the love of his estranged wife and daughter. When things don’t go according to plan, he ends up in a shady hotel in the suburbs, having to work as a night guard to make ends meet. Then Margit, a beautiful, mysterious stranger walks into his life and things start looking up. Their passionate and intense relationship triggers a string of inexplicable events… as if an obscure power was taking control of his life. In Cinemas Nationwide February 17.

Cast:
Ethan Hawke | Joanna Kulig | Kristin Scott Thomas

Writers:
Terrence Malick

Producers:
Bert Schneider | Harold Schneider

Directors:
Terrence Malick

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  • Critic rating
  • Currently 2/5 Stars.

Movies.ie Critic Review

THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH (France/Poland/UK/15A/85mins)

Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski. Starring Ethan Hawke, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joanna Kulig, Samir Guesmi, Delphine Chuillot, Julie Papillon.

THE PLOT: Returning to Paris, American novelist Tom Ricks (Hawke) finds little love from his estranged French wife (Chuillot), despite the fact that the two have a young daughter, Chloe (Papillon). Tom always finds little luck either, holed up in a sleazy hotel and spending his nights working for its dodgy owner Sezer (Guesmi). When he hooks up with a glamourous widow, Margit (Scott Thomas), life begins to go a little pear-shaped. As Tom begins to question his own sanity, we begin to question what’s true and what is imagined…

THE VERDICT: Ethan Hawke has a habit of running to Paris for his quirky, festival-worthy films about life, love and louche women. Here, he’s aided and abetted by that fine Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, who broke through in 2000 with Last Resort, and scored a hit with 2004’s My Summer Of Love, and, of course, the patron saint of arty French films, Kristen Scott Thomas. What lost young poet can resist Kristen’s siren call? Based on Douglas Kennedy’s 2007 novel, Pawlikowski never quite lives up to the intriguing interweaving stories and characters offered up here, and you’re left with a thriller that’s never quite thrilling, and a whodunit that falls short and lands somewhere closer to a whocares?.RATING: 2/5

Review by Paul Byrne 

  • Avg User rating
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.

User Reviews

    • Currently 3/5 Stars.

    filmbuff2011

    Talented Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski (My Summer Of Love) returns after an absence of 8 years with this curious adaptation of Douglas Kennedy's novel. The story follows Ethan Hawke's one-hit-wonder writer as he returns to Paris to re-connect with his daughter after the break-up of his marriage. In the 5th Arondissement, he encounters various colourful characters including Kristin Scott Thomas' seductive Margit. That's when things start to go awry, as she is not who she seems and events spiral out of control... Hawke gives a neatly under-played performance, as his confusion and desperation becomes apparent as the film progresses. The story drags a bit in the middle but picks up for a busy finale. It's a rather low-key, slow-burning film that isn't as memorable as My Summer Of Love, but there's no doubt that we'll be seeing more films from Pawlikowski - and hopefully more often.

    • Currently 3/5 Stars.

    mart

    The writing is witty, the story is told with a beguiling simplicity and the period is meticulously realised, not only in farming equipment and costume, but in attitudes and faces.

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