By mid April 2010, Ethan Hawke, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joanna Kulig, Samir Guesmi, and Marcela Iacub were cast in an adaptation of Kennedy's novel with Pawlikowski penning and directing the adaptation. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early June. Filming took place in Paris, France.
The film stars Hawke, Scott Thomas, Kulig, Guesmi, and Iacub. The cast gave very good performances, but it's the revealing performance from Hawke and Scott Thomas that breathes life into the film. In this sly and wonderfully atmospheric gem, Hawke and Scott Thomas conjure up the role-playing raptures of youth with perfect poetic pitch. Intoxicating, even hypnotic. The steamy relationship between Hawke and Scott Thomas has an almost tactile sultriness. Their romance seems alternately fluid and jaunty, as they explore one another and their own feelings. Pawlikowski treats their escalating attraction with delicacy, avoiding the titillating pitfalls of the genre. Reinforces the sense that this director knows his way around the range of human emotion. Hawke conveys the desperation of a man whose redemption seems to be slipping away. You get multi-dimensional characters that are usually absent from summer movies.
The Woman in the Fifth is a moody, bittersweet love story featuring outstanding performances from the leads. For what Pawlikowski has ultimately crafted is an ingenious, fresh variant on the quintessentially French theme of romance. Ryszard Lenczewski's superb cinematography effectively captures the rhythm of the lovers' volatile interactions and growing obsession. His handheld camerawork has a quicksilver alertness. There's little doubt that the film is occasionally just a little too uneventful for its own good. Pawlikowski does such a great job of establishing a sense of adult carelessness that we're sucked into Ricks' romance. Torrid eroticism tinged by a sense of menace, circles around its complex, conflicted characters before plunging into their dark feelings and hidden half-truths. Pawlikowski's open and poetic new film proves without a shadow of a doubt that his stunning Last Resort and My Summer of Love were no flukes. One of those depressing, angst-and- lust-driven films the French do so well, or poorly, depending on your tolerance for this sort of thing. Despite the predictable collision course between Hawke and Scott Thomas, this is a solid film. The film is one of those promising little gems that comes along and gets lost in the hype generated by Hollywood's flood of blockbusters. Pawlikowski's ends up falsifying everything his style was working so effectively to create, and only because he ultimately chose content over style. An exquisite exploration into the realms of seduction, obsession, deception and disillusionment Pawlikowski is helped by his leads, who make a memorable impact in this unsettling romance.
The Woman in the Fifth is a moody, bittersweet love story featuring outstanding performances from the leads. For what Pawlikowski has ultimately crafted is an ingenious, fresh variant on the quintessentially French theme of romance. Ryszard Lenczewski's superb cinematography effectively captures the rhythm of the lovers' volatile interactions and growing obsession. His handheld camerawork has a quicksilver alertness. There's little doubt that the film is occasionally just a little too uneventful for its own good. Pawlikowski does such a great job of establishing a sense of adult carelessness that we're sucked into Ricks' romance. Torrid eroticism tinged by a sense of menace, circles around its complex, conflicted characters before plunging into their dark feelings and hidden half-truths. Pawlikowski's open and poetic new film proves without a shadow of a doubt that his stunning Last Resort and My Summer of Love were no flukes. One of those depressing, angst-and- lust-driven films the French do so well, or poorly, depending on your tolerance for this sort of thing. Despite the predictable collision course between Hawke and Scott Thomas, this is a solid film. The film is one of those promising little gems that comes along and gets lost in the hype generated by Hollywood's flood of blockbusters. Pawlikowski's ends up falsifying everything his style was working so effectively to create, and only because he ultimately chose content over style. An exquisite exploration into the realms of seduction, obsession, deception and disillusionment Pawlikowski is helped by his leads, who make a memorable impact in this unsettling romance.
Simon says The Woman in the Fifth receives:
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