Oscar nominees Ethan Hawke and Kristen Scott Thomas journey to Paris for some brain-bending psychological thrills in THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH, Pawel Pawlikowski’s adaptation of Douglas Kennedy’s 2011 novel.
American writer Tom Ricks comes to Paris desperate to put his life together again and win back the love of his estranged wife and daughter. When things don’t go according to plan, he ends up in a shady hotel in the suburbs, having to work as a night guard to make ends meet. Then Margit, a beautiful, mysterious stranger walks into his life and things start looking up. Their passionate and intense relationship riggers a string of inexplicable events… as if an obscure power was taking control of his life.
Pawlikowski gives this insight into the pic: “The hero’s emotional state is the prism. It’s through him that we perceive the world he moves through. I try to remain as naturalistic as possible, so as not to signpost through cinematic devices that something is not quite right. Events follow one another and gradually we move into the realm of the strange. My goal was to strike the right tone for the film – a precarious balancing act between realism, absurdist comedy, and nightmare – and to stick to it with unswerving confidence.”
A French-Polish co-production with dialogue in French and English, THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH opened theatrically in the U.S. on JUNE 15 from ATO Pictures and is now available on cable VOD, iTunes and Amazon Instant Video from New Video’s Flatiron Film Company. The DVD releases on SEPTEMBER 18. Pre-order it right HERE.
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