Dir: Jérôme Bonnell / France / 2013 / 105 mins
Alix Emmanuelle, who is performing in an Ibsen play in Calais, takes the train to Paris at the crack of dawn for an audition and is due back on stage that night. On the train, Alix spots a fellow passenger (Gabriel Byrne). When the train pulls in to Paris, Byrne asks in adequate French whether she speaks English and requests directions to a specific church. Another passenger obliges, but Alix now knows where the mysterious man is headed. Alix goes to her audition after which she should meet her mother for lunch and then hop back on a train but instead, proceeds to the church where the reason for Byrne’s melancholy expression is revealed. After a few amusing obstacles are overcome they make a connection. Centered on a perfectly measured performance from Emmanuelle Devos, and with Gabriel Byrne an ever reliable presence, Jerome Bonnell delivers an affecting and humorous tale of a Parisian brief encounter with considerable class.
Just a Sigh opened this year’s IFI French Film Festival.