Austinist Reviews: The Page Turner | La Tourneuse de Pages

If musical history has taught us anything, it's that you simply do NOT stand between a child prodigy and her chance to shine. Do not do this! Once that intense prodigal drive is thwarted, it's guaranteed to metastasize into something ugly that will come back to haunt you. (Um, Antonio Salieri much?)

In the first scenes of Denis Dercourt's French thriller The Page Turner, famous concert pianist Ariane Fouchécourt (Catherine Frot) thoughtlessly signs an autograph while judging ten-year-old Mélanie's piano conservatory entrance exam. Distracted by the interruption, Mélanie fails the conservatory test after a life of preparation. As a steely Mélanie solemnly packs away her Beethoven bust post-exam without shedding so much as one tear, you just know that bitch pianist is gonna catch some serious wrath for what she did.

Ten years later, Mélanie (Déborah Francois, L'Enfant) is grown and sexy, and she's interning for Ariane's loaded lawyer husband, Jean (Pascal Greggory). Her good work at the office leads to a gig caring for Jean and Ariane's son, Tristan. Since their palatial mansion is way out in the 'burbs, Mélanie moves in with the family, and the simmering ladytension is instantly palpable. As it turns out, Ariane happens to be struggling with "fragility" after a traumatic accident, and her virtuosic gift for the piano is threatened by all-consuming stage fright. When Mélanie becomes her page turner--flipping Ariane's sheet music during complicated Shostakovich turns--Ariane soon depends on her impassive young au pair for more than just musical support.