La femme et le TGV

It is such a delight of a film! Only the French can make such heart-warming odd romances. I'd say it's one of the best Live Action Shorts, in the romantic genre, that I have seen.

This will be a short review for a short film that unfortunately feels longer than it actually is.

After a fairly effective beginning, the story immediately begins to tread water. It's repetitive, undramatic and predictable. As for the actors: Jane Birkin regularly appears unsure of what emotion to express, her face saying more about her age than about her characters struggle. Lucien Guignard seems to channel John Travolta's Danny from Grease, which, while amusing, quickly gets stale (which says a lot, considering the the entire film is only thirty minutes long).

Ultimately the film feels like the hundredth iteration of the stereotypical drama about the lonely, sentimental older lady.

This film is a strange little comedy about a very odd Swiss woman (ably played by British actress Jane Birkin). Every morning, like clockwork, she arises from bed at 6:05am in order to wave at the train speeding past her house. And, in the evenings, she does the same…each time waving her Swiss flag madly at the passing train! Apart from this odd ritual, she is a grouchy and rather miserable woman. However, her mundane and antisocial demeanor begins to change when someone from the train begins sending her fan mail— thanking her for the years she's spent greeting the train! She, in turn, begins writing back to this unknown admirer! What's next?

Just see this one, as I don't want to spoil the suspense. This film is just fun….something that can't really be said about most of the nominees this year. In fact, so many of the films left the audience feeling a bit depressed that La Femme et la TGU has a strong chance of winning, though I'd still bet on Enemies Within.

La femme et le TGV (2016)

*** (out of 4)

Elise (Jane Birkin) is a lonely woman who lives alone in a small house that sets right by a TGV track. Each morning she follows the same routine by opening the window by the track and waving a flag. One day she receives a letter from someone on the train who appreciates her gesture and before long the two strike up a relationship.

LA FEMME ET LE TGV is one of the five Oscar-nominated short for Best Live Action. If you're a fan of watching these type of shorts then you should find this one to be rather entertaining, although it does run on a bit too long at thirty-minutes. With that said, for the most part there's a lot of heart and charm to be found in the picture and there's also an extremely good performance by Birkin. She's certainly very believable in the role and helps carry the picture with her touching performance.

Heartwarming short story of this lady who is full of life. Great concept and beautiful photography I must say. It's engaging, fun and really well made. Just finished watching on Amazon Prime.