thosewholoveme

Plot Synopsis

Patrice Chereau (Queen Margot) directed this French drama about a train trip to an artist's funeral. Friends of painter Jean-Baptiste Emmerich (Jean-Louis Trintignant, seen in flashbacks) gather at a Paris railroad station for a four-hour journey to Limoges, where Emmerich wanted to be buried. The dozen travelers include art historian Francois (Pascal Greggory) and his lover Louis (Bruno Todeschini), who develops an interest in teenage Bruno (Sylvain Jacques). Traveling parallel with the train is a station wagon with Jean-Baptiste's body, and this vehicle is driven by Thierry (Roschdy Zem), husband of Catherine (Dominique Blanc), who's on the train with their daughter. Francois plays a taped interview with Jean-Baptiste, revealing his sexual appeal to both men and women. Lucie (Marie Daems) is convinced that she was his main love. Also on board is his nephew, Jean-Marie (Charles Berling) and Jean-Marie's estranged wife, Claire (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), After the funeral in "Europe's largest cemetery," the storyline continues in the mansion of Jean-Baptiste's brother, Lucien (also played by Trintignant). With hand-held camerawork for almost two-thirds of the film, the production involved two extra cars connected to a real scheduled train, headed one way in the morning and returning in the afternoon, with cast and crew logging some 12,000 kilometers over two weeks. Source music runs the gamut from James Brown to Jim Morrison. The title refers to the dying words uttered by the painter - which actually are the last words spoken by filmmaker Francois Reichenbach who died in 1993 (and appropriated here by his friend, co-scripter Daniele Thompson). One of Francois Reichenbach's best-known films (and subject of an entire book) is the documentary Medicine Ball Caravan (aka We Have Come for Your Daughters,1971), a curious effort to duplicate the success of Woodstock (1970) by simply inviting a large number of musicians, hippies, and counterculture types aboard a cross-country train and filming the result. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. - Bhob Stewart

Reviews

JEFF VICE
Deseret News movie critic 03/28/2000

Despite its pretensions to be something different, perhaps something loftier, "Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train" is little more than a soap opera. And it's not a very good one at that.

      This multicharacter, multisexual, 1998 French drama is pretty well acted and photographed, but too much is going on for the good of the film.

      For example, there are so many characters and subplots that few, if any, of them are developed well enough. Add that to the fact that director Patrice Chereau ("Queen Margot") lets even the most trivial scenes linger on for what seems like forever, and you've got the ingredients for a real disappointment - if not an outright dud.

      Things start promisingly, however, as we're introduced to friends and family of Jean-Baptiste (veteran character actor Jean-Louis Trintignant), a recently deceased artist.

      Most of them are preparing to trek from Paris to Limoges for Jean-Baptiste's funeral (a story device that supplies the film's title), which brings out the best and worst in all of them.

      Take Jean-Marie (Charles Berling), his nephew, who uses the tragedy as an excuse to lash out at his estranged wife, Claire (Valerie Bruni-Tedeschi). What he doesn't know is that she's pregnant with his child.

      And then there's Francois (Pascal Greggory) and Louis (Bruno Todeschini), a gay couple who also squabble during the journey - thanks to the presence of Bruno (Sylvain Jacques), a young man who attracts them both.

      Those two story lines would be enough material for most filmmakers, but Chereau and two other screenwriters keep introducing characters and similarly soapy contrivances to the point of overkill.

      Not that making so many of the characters unlikable helps.

      As played by Berling, Jean-Marie is so smug and self-involved that you'll probably wish it had been his character that died.

      Only the intense Bruni-Tedeschi and Trintignant, who also plays the dual role of Jean-Baptiste and his twin brother, make much of an impression.

      "Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train" is not rated but would probably receive an R for profanity, crude sex talk and use of sexual slang terms, male and female nudity, violence (fisticuffs) and a brief scene depicting gay sex. Running time: 122 minutes.

ANWAR BRETT
BBCi
6th August 2000

The death of a wealthy artist brings together some of those whose lives he has touched, as they travel south from Paris for his funeral in Limoges. The journey is the backdrop for some revealing insights into the tangled web of relations he has left behind, and for a glimpse of the old man's mischievous nature.

On board the train are friends, relations and former lovers of both sexes. All are coming to terms with life without this powerful patriarch and are adjusting themselves to relationships that exist between those who are left.

As their train hurtles to its destination, so Jean-Baptiste the artist travels to his final resting place, in a parallel journey aboard a Peugeot station wagon. He was a contrary old git by all accounts so he would probably have wanted it this way.
Unfolding like an autopsy on a collection of flawed, apathetic or deeply unpleasant characters, "Those Who Love Me...". is earnest and heavy, a plodding drama that throws light into corners some of us would prefer not to look in.

But the acting is solid and convincing, the writing wordy and the direction painstaking. Yet it all seems so self-conscious and contrived, a film that revels in the foibles and flaws of the people at the heart of its story. It's as if French audiences find a cathartic quality to films such as this, where somehow the viewer will be better for watching it.

That tradition is somewhat different from typical British film-making, and miles away from the Hollywood style. Which is not to say that it is bad, just that like some other French delicacies, it will not be suited to all tastes.

THOSE WHO LOVE ME CAN TAKE THE TRAIN
1998 - France - 122 min. - Feature, Color
AKA -Ceux Qui M'Aiment Prendront le Train (Original Foreign title)
Director -Patrice Ch�reau

Genre/Type -Drama, Psychological Drama, Gay & Lesbian Films
Flags -Not For Children, Adult Situations, Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Keywords -artist, brother, friendship, train [locomotive], wake [funeral]
Set In -France, Lima. Peru, mansion
From Idea by -Thompson, Daniele
Cinematic Process -Panavision Widescreen
Sound by -Dolby Digital/DTS
Produced by -Azor Films / Canal Plus / CNC / France 2 Cinema / France 3 Cinema / Procirep / Telema Productions
Release -May 15, 1998 (France) / Aug 5, 1999 (USA)
Premiere -1998 05 14 (Cannes Film Festival)
Released by -Bac Films
DVD Street Date -Apr 18, 2000
Languages -French
Subtitles -English
Screen Formats -Letterbox for TV
Sound -Dolby Digital, SS
Studio -Kino On Video
Region -1 (USA & territories, Canada)
DVD Sides -1

Cast

Pascal Greggory -- Francois
Jean-Louis Trintignant -- Lucien
Jean-Louis Trintignant -- Jean-Baptiste
Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi -- Claire
Charles Berling -- Jean-Marie
Bruno Todeschini -- Louis
Sylvain Jacques -- Bruno
Vincent Perez -- Viviane
Roschdy Zem -- Thierry
Dominique Blanc -- Catherine