THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH / LA FEMME DE VEME

France/Poland, 2011, 83 minutes, Colour.
Ethan Hawke, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joanna Kulig, Samir Guesmi.
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski.

A reviewer-friend, after seeing this psychological drama, asked me to let him know what I thought of the ending of the film and what it meant. So, this request made me pay more attention all the way through, a conscious effort, more than usual. Just as well, because I was able to pick up some clues, visual and verbal, that occurred throughout the film. While I wouldn’t guarantee that I could write a detailed synopsis, I think the basic meaning was clear enough – until I heard some of the local reviewers puzzling over what happened.

If that sounds intriguing, this is your film. It has a brief running time and is directed by Polish, Pawel Pawelowski, who made two interesting small-budget features in England in the last ten years, The Last Resort and My Summer of Love.

The Fifth is one of the arrondisements of Paris where the film is set (based on a novel by American, Douglas Kennedy). We travel to several of these arrondissments. First to where US literature professor and novelist, Tom (Ethan Hawke), goes to find his estranged wife and his daughter, who promptly warns him off and calls the police. We don’t quite know the reasons for the hostility but his wife tells their daughter that her father has been in prison. Next, he travels by bus into a seedier neighbourhood, multi-ethnic as well, and finds that his suitcase and money have been stolen while he was asleep. Later, he goes more up-market to a literary party where he encounters Margit (the ever tantalisingly interesting Kristin Scott Thomas) and then to her apartment in the 5th.

In the meantime, he is offered a surveillance job by the owner of the dingy hotel where he is allowed to stay. Shady dealings here and some threats but we don’t quite know what. Tom also has a boorish neighbor – and his criticisms of him lead Tom to the police station.

If this sounds intriguing, then this is your film.

By this stage, we know enough about Tom to wonder about his life, his mental condition, his imaginary world, so that we can make sense of the final option that he makes after making sure his daughter (who seems to have temporarily disappeared) is safe. And, the question of who is this woman in the fifth still remains something of an enigma.


1. Psychological drama? Relationships? Sanity?

2. The use of Paris, the various districts? The world of Tom’s wife and child? The world of the ethnic minorities and the poor? Margit and the Fifth Arrondissement? The cross-section of Paris? The vistas of Paris? The musical score and its moods?

3. The blend of realism and surrealism? Dreams and imagination? Hallucinations? Control? Real/unreal? The clues in the screenplay and characterisations? Tom’s decision at the end?

4. The portrait of Tom? How real? How much in his mind? His life in America, the university, the novel, esteem for him? No reason given for losing his wife and child, their return to Paris? His wife telling Chloe that he was in prison? In an institution? His arrival, his explanation at passport control about staying to look after his wife and child? Arrival at the apartment? Her reaction, calling the police? His encountering Chloe on the footpath, the police coming, running away, getting on the bus, going to sleep, his suitcase and money being stolen? The offhand attitude of the driver?

5. Going to the bar, the cup of coffee, discovering that he didn't have any money, the waitress and her friendliness? Cezar and his interview, allowing him to stay, taking his passport? The room, the toilet, the neighbour and his unsanitary behaviour, his noise, the confrontations? The blackmail note under the door? The neighbour’s death? Tom in his room, quiet, thinking, observing?

6. His stalking Chloe? Following her? Watching?

7. His friendship with Ania, talking with her, the discussions with Cezar, the offer of the job, going into the room, the surveillance, the codes, his being locked in? Going to work, venturing outside – and the voice threat for him not to go out?

8. The bookshop, his own book, the discussions with the owner, invitation to the party, the discussion with his sister, the fifteen euros for drinks, the party, his being bored by the guests and their talk? Seeing Margit, following her, talking, her story, the card, the phone calls, the visit, the sexual tantalising, the bath, the visits? In his imagination or not? Reality?

9. His continuing to write, in the bar, in the room? The letter to his daughter? His finally throwing it away, tearing the bottom half off, putting his page in an envelope for his daughter, with love from her dad?

10. The death, his arrest, in jail, the interview? The story of Margit being dead, her suicide? The story of the accident, the picture of the driver?

11. The arrest of Cezar, Cezar’s attack on Tom?

12. Ania, the sexual relationship, in the grass near the railway line, in the room, his disappearance?

13. Chloe lost, the initial sight of her in the forest, the later sighting, her coming out of the forest, being recovered, his watching?

14. The discussion with Margit, whether she was real or not? Her inviting him to stay with her forever? His surrender and going into the white light? Withdrawing into himself?