THE LADY IN THE CAR WITH GLASSES AND GUN. LA DAME DANS L'AUTO AVEC LES LUNETTES ET LE FUSIL


France, 2015, 93 minutes, Colour.
Freya Mavor, Benjamin Biolay, Elio Germano, Stacy Martin.
Directed by Joann Sfar.

This film is based on a popular novel by Sebastien Japrisot. It was filmed in 1970, the British production directed by Anatole Litvak, with Samantha Eggar and Oliver Reed.

It is something of a film noir in rather bright sunlight of the 21st-century.

The central character is Dany, played by Scottish actress Freya Mavor, who seems mousey at first although we see her literally letting her hair down and being carefree. She belongs to a typing pool and gets a job of typing a manuscript for her boss who has married a friend from years past.

When the couple go to Switzerland, she is to take their car back home but she decides that she wants to see the sea and drive south. What follows is a series of strange episodes where people continually tell her what she has done, that they have seen her, all of which she denies. She also gets caught up with a stranger, sexually involved with him, a reckless driver.

Then she finds a body in the trunk of the car and is further mystified, wondering whether all this is reality or that it is happening in her mind.

The explanation does seem more than a touch far-fetched. She has been set up by her boss and his wife, covering up an affair and the death of the lover, wanting to get rid of the body undetected. They have gone ahead of Dany, making sure that she has been seen and identified so that when she comes through by herself, she has all this testimony and becomes more bewildered.

Rather glossy – and, perhaps, more than implausible.


1. Romantic thriller and mystery? The novel? The 1970s British version?

2. Paris, the business world, homes, airports, offices? The open road to the south? The landscapes, diners, service stations, truckies, the scenery, the sea? The musical score?

3. The complexity of the plot, audience identification with Dany and her situation, her work, the desire to see the sea, her taking the car? The drive, the various events, people talking about meeting her, identifying her, her denials? The personal involvement, the sexual relationship? Driving, the body in the trunk of the car? Getting rid of it? The journey towards the sea?

4. Dany thinking that this was happening in her mind and imagination? The audience unsure? Thinking it was reality? Or thinking it was her fantasy?

5. The situation with her boss, the job, Anita, memories of the past, the typing pool? The task typing, her going to the house, meeting Anita again? The couple going to Switzerland? Her taking the car and to return it? The decision to go to see the sea?

6. Dany, her personality, carefree, yet with the other girls, spectacles and prim? Taking the car, driving, the touch of recklessness?

7. The beginning of the encounters with people who knew her, had remembered seeing her, the woman at the diner, the issues with the car, the truck and the flowers, the men at the service station?

8. The car, the mysterious driver, the liaison with him, sexual? The aftermath? The body, the picnic site, getting rid of the body?

9. Encountering her boss, his recounting the story about his wife, the affair, death, concealing the truth, the plan, getting rid of the body?

10. The plausibility of the explanation, the couple not going to Switzerland, their going in advance of Dany, setting up situations where she would be remembered, her confusion, getting rid of the body, but becoming a target?

11. Characters, the situations, the shifting times? The plausibility of the plot and its execution?