L'Homme du Train (2002)

Avec Johnny Hallyday, Jean Rochefort, Charlie Nelson, Jean-Francois Stévenin, Pascal Parmentier, Isabelle Petit-Jacques

Dans une petite ville où règnent le calme et l'ennui, un mystérieux étranger au visage marqué descend d'un train. Alors que la ville s'endort peu à peu, il entre dans une pharmacie où il fait une rencontre improbable. Il sympathise avec un professeur de français qui ne semble pourtant avoir aucun point commun avec lui.

One evening, a stranger, Milan, arrives in a small French town and enters a pharmacy to buy some aspirin. There, he meets Manesquier, a retired teacher who lives alone in a huge house. Realising he has bought soluble aspirin by mistake, Milan accepts Manesquier’s invitation to his house. Despite their differences, the two men are drawn together by a mutual respect. Milan, a world-weary gangster, would willingly swap his life for Manesquier’s calm retirement. In his turn, Manesquier fancies himself in Milan’s shoes, living a life of danger and adventure. Three days from now both men have to confront death – Manesquier in a heart operation, Milan in a bank raid. Realising how little time is left to them, the two men reflect on the other life they could have had…