THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (La Fille du RER) Official Selection: Rendez-vous with French Cinema (2009) West-Coast Premiere Drama France, 2009 In French with English subtitles 35mm/Scope 2.35/Color/ Dolby SR SRD, DTS/102 min Directed by: André Téchiné Written by: André Téchiné, Odile Barski, Jean-Marie Besset Based on the original work by: Jean-Marie Besset Cinematography by: Julien Hirsch Editing by: Martine Giordano Original Music by: Philippe Sarde Produced by: Saïd Ben Saïd Production Company: SBS Films Co-production: France 2 Cinéma International sales: UGC DISTRIBUTION 24, avenue Charles-de-Gaulle 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine Tel : +33 1 46 40 44 00 www.ugc.fr www.lafilledurer-lefilm.com With: Emilie Dequenne (Jeanne), Catherine Deneuve (Louise), Michel Blanc (Samuel Bleistein), Nicolas Duvauchelle (Franck), Mathieu Demy (Alex), Ronit Elkabetz (Judith) Set in the low income suburbs of Paris where a series of spontaneous youth riots erupted in 2005, The Girl on the Train stars Catherine Deneuve and Emilie Dequenne (Rosetta, Brotherhood of the Wolf) as Louise and Jeanne, a mother and daughter caught in a lie that spins out of control. Desperate after being rejected by her lover Franck (Nicolas Duvauchelle, Secrets of State (COL•COA 2009) Jeanne mutilates herself and claims to have been assaulted in the train by a group of Black and Arab youths who mistook her for Jewish. Soon, the news is everywhere in the national media and Jeanne is forced to admit that she lied. Based on a true story predating the riots, The Girl on the Train portrays the explosive climate and the racial tensions that gave birth to the uprising. ABOUT ANDRÉ TÉCHINÉ Film critic turned filmmaker André Téchiné made his directorial debut with Pauline Is Leaving, presented at the Venice Film Festival in 1969. After Barocco (1976) and The Bronte Sisters (1979), two films with Isabelle Adjani, he co-wrote and directed Hôtel des Amériques (1981). A turning point in his career, it was the first of many films starring icon Catherine Deneuve in Téchiné’s career. He quickly became a figure of contemporary French auteur cinema after the provocative Rendez-vous (1985), co-written with Olivier Assayas and winner of the Best Director Prize at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. Establishing his intensely personal style with the widely acclaimed My Favorite Season (1992) and Wild Reeds (1994), André Téchiné has explored sensuality, complex emotions and social issues in films such as Strayed (2003) The Witnesses (2007) or his latest opus The Girl on the Train. PRESS “At the center is the bond, fractious but loving, between daughter Emilie Dequenne and mom Catherine Deneuve. Deneuve…only gets better. Watch her face as she struggles to control her dismay when her daughter announces her dubious romantic choice.“ (indieWIRE) “…Téchiné takes the emotional pulse of hate crimes and finds symptoms of common psychological distress. In other words, it’s a love story from the uniquely expansive—and inquiring—point of view that makes Téchiné France’s most fascinating contemporary filmmaker.“ (New York Press) “This provocative and involving piece proves that the French tradition of intelligent, adult film-making is still healthy and in the right hands, can still provide upmarket commercial prospects.” (Screen International)