The Woman in the Fifth - review

An emotionally paralysed US writer (Ethan Hawke) arrives in Paris and mingles with other intellectuals while the Eiffel Tower twinkles in the background. Then he meets a mysterious European (Kristin Scott Thomas) who offers to be his muse, her sultry intensity putting more down-to-earth females in the shade.

Sounds like Midnight in Paris: Part Deux. But don't be fooled. The end result is murky rather than magical.

Hero Tom is actually fresh from some kind of violent episode. Barred from spending time with his young daughter (his ex-wife is terrified of him), he's also without funds. Stuck in the suburbs, he seeks refuge in a sleazy café, where the Arab owner offers him a deal, one involving an abandoned factory, a CCTV camera and rent-free accommodation. Racially paranoid Tom is soon seeing blood on the walls. Margit, the above-mentioned muse, purrs that misery will make Tom a better writer. But is she a reliable source?

It's a neat, knowing premise. Frustratingly, much about writer-director Pawel Pawlikowski's script, loosely based on Douglas Kennedy's novel, feels tired. An assortment of crawling insects and hooded thugs are too familiar as tropes to be menacing. Ania, a (glowingly) virtuous waitress at the café, also fails to convince.

Hawke and Scott Thomas, however, make a fascinating odd couple. He's synonymous with awkward idealism; she with insouciant sophistication. And their iconic baggage adds eerie nuance to the material. In one scene, Margit gives the haggard Tom a bath and, as she pours water over his head, he suddenly looks like a teenage boy. It's as if Scott Thomas is washing away the years since Hawke's turn in Dead Poets Society. The chemistry between the actors is gorgeously unhealthy; Oedipal, spiteful and sexy.

This is Pawlikowski's first feature film since the brilliant My Summer of Love (2004). He's not back to his best but there's much to enjoy and claims that the climax is confusing are wide of the mark.

The mystery being explored - it turns out - is why a loving parent might choose to take their own life. The Woman in the Fifth offers a riddle in the dark and the simple answer is haunting.

The Woman in the Fifth