"The Girl on the Train" - movie review

in #review6 years ago (edited)

"The Girl on the Train" without scruples casts in the face of the observer the truth that an unhappy person can not create a happy family. A grim, tragic and traumatic family story. The characters are locked by their demons in the closet. They have neither a key nor a real door through which to get out. Primary frames are a utopian-melancholic prelude observed by a train. I myself, during my trip, had the feeling that the window is something like a movie screen and the trip is something like a projection - but unlike real cinema, the traveler has the task of inventing the subjects themselves, cutting the frames and arranging them with rhythm and inner logic. Emily Blunt's character (Rachel) is doing just that - it's like a torn, waving flower that is drinking alcohol. As she travels, she looks every day at the houses of others, in the lives of others, and looks for some beautiful story to dispel her self-deception. It is not a common feminine image, and this is the first dignity of history - it begins with recurring close cadres on the face of a woman marked by a psychological problem. Her makeup is blurred in the middle of a white day, her eyes are puffy with tears, pouring like a pig, talking slowly. Her ex-husband says about her: "You are a dog that only crawls unwanted after the others."

81eL4Z40btL._SY445_.jpg

Of course, such a heroine is not an unprecedented phenomenon, but the natural play of such a role fills with satisfaction and respect. Charlize Theron is the perfect white trash in Young Adult" (a movie I recommend regardless of your movie tastes). And while I'm on the subject of comparisons, I've also thought of "Atnement" several times, where we also have a classic example of an unreliable narrator. Brilliant example of the tragic consequences that can cause fictitious imagination. Obligatory masterpiece. "I'm not the girl I was" is one of Rachel's first testimonials. She feels repulsive, empty and useless. Her husband dropped her two years ago and lives with her new wife Ana (Rebecca Ferguson) and their baby. Rachel has lost her job and lives with a friend from the university in a tight, dark room. Nothing in her life is alright, and to make it even worse, she is in no way trying to change it. As she travels every morning on the train, she notices James and Jesse (with real names Megan and Scott, played by Haley Bennett and Luc Evans). There is a very beautiful, repetitive frame - they are huddled in the garden around the fire in a calm evening. Rachel seems to want to drink them along with the whole alchohol.

The perfect family, her past, which will not be repeated. Structurally," The Girl on the Train" is built up of chaotic scattered memories, scenes and hypothetical situations. Rachel is obsessed with Megan and Scott and begins to invent stories about them. She is artistic, young, fresh, subdues it with intellect and freedom. He is English-handsome - sleekly radiant and confident. In Paula Hawkins' book, their names are James and Jesse, while Rachel does not understand that they really call Megan and Scott. Alas, Megan and Scott do not sound as utopian as James and Jesse. (Incidentally, the book is sometimes weaker than the movie.) The film borrows good things and adds character to them. A huge problem with the book is that it tells the story in a dry way. Paula Hawkins definitely invented something good, but she buried her potential with tedious, repetitive passages. Her personages are lifeless, they lead monologues for their inner world, but they seem to remain kinetically empty all the time. Including the narrative structure of the film follows that of the book. The story is told from three points of view - Rachel, Ana and Megan. All three are fixed in creating a family and having children. All three suffer because the happiness they have made has not. Whether fixation is something socially acceptable, such as having a child, it is poisonous. Another strong message. Alcohol, in addition to causing depression, exacerbates the imagination, influencing vision on the one hand and the overall concept of reality. Rachel is the girl who sees and sees a lot but is not sure of anything. One day, as she goes by train along the house of Megan and Scott, she sees Megan kissing with another man. His face is unclear, but not Scott, that's for sure. A few days later, Megan disappears.

1007332_1_10-07girltrain_standard.jpg

It is no secret that the male characters in the "The Girl on the Train" are far more boring than the females. We have Tom in the role of Rachel's former husband (Justin Theru), Scott (Luc Evans, Megan's husband) and Dr. Kemal Abdick, the psychologist of Megan and Rachel. In fact, the latter is the most interesting of the three. It is special because of its caring and emotional balance, which are rather female qualities. Dr. Adbeck is a key counterpoint to the three upset women in the movie - he's a much more mother than any of them. Megan is especially the wildest, most exhausted character of the three. She is a powerless child, with the body and the sexual aspirations of a mature woman. She is horrified and traumatized by a loss in the past and can never make the right decision. One of the most imbalanced people I've ever seen on screen. (Great play by Haley Bennett, though the treasure of the movie is Emily Blunt.) Here is the time to say that the story deepens, the six characters engage in secrets and conflicts, and the film turns into a well-escalating thriller that definitely holds the promise of curiosity tall to the final. (Unlike the book that in the cheapest way keeps you reading, not because you are really enjoyable, just because you need to know what's going on.) Still, do not be fooled - you will not watch the visual-storyline of David Fincher's "Gone Girl" as Hollywood contrabilds are trying to mark it. The perverse perversion of the latter is not achieved, although I believe that with a little more detail, adding something here, getting something out there, this story could have been even more influential. And yes, I agree with all those who say that Fincher had to direct it.

In general, let Fincher direct everything.


Image source: 1, 2

Sort:  
I find this movie pretty amazing. I just wonder whether or not there is a book version of this? It is not to compare stories on different medium but I want to feel how to be part of the story just like when you are reading.

Nice review by the way because just by reading it, I understood some keypoints of the story. How hard and ugly must have it been for her to be dropped just like a bomb by her ex-husband.

Such a compelling story.

Editted: Indeed, there was a book written which was the basis of the movie. Sorry dearie!

Thank you :)

Yes, there is a book version from 2015 year by Paula Hawkins.

I will try to search for a book copy on that one. Thank you @godflesh. You always come handy.

I have from watching this film the impression that it is a cocktail of hopes, lies, desires, family secrets, and motivations that the viewer will have to unravel and become an unwitting eyewitness to all the events. The film is almost all the time keeps in suspense!

Yes very true :)

You got a 6.33% upvote from @postpromoter courtesy of @godflesh!

Want to promote your posts too? Check out the Steem Bot Tracker website for more info. If you would like to support the development of @postpromoter and the bot tracker please vote for @yabapmatt for witness!

Averge movie, needed more events

What a great review :)

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.19
TRX 0.15
JST 0.029
BTC 63183.53
ETH 2643.93
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.78