MovieChat Forums > L'homme du train (2002) Discussion > Thought Provoking...

Thought Provoking...

posted 15 years ago by rachelmr5216
6 replies | jump to latest

...yet I haven't come to any concrete conclusions. What is the significance of the train? Trains usually run on one track and have destinations in place and time...does it make sense that the train was a symbol of two lives-Rochefort & Hallyday- meeting, standing and then departing while influencing each others paths?

Would their lives have ended the same not having met each other? I think they needed to have met in order to realize who they really are as well as the regrets they hold.

[–] EuropeanMoviesFan 15 years ago

......does it make sense that the train was a symbol of two lives-Rochefort & Hallyday- meeting, standing and then departing while influencing each others paths?

Probably...also it could mean that it was a mean to transport and transform their own lives. You can give it different interpretations.

Would their lives have ended the same not having met each other? I think they needed to have met in order to realize who they really are as well as the regrets they hold.

I also think think they needed to meet each other. They both learn from each other and like one of the plots say, " they meet and realize that each might have been better suited to the other man's way of life..." In a way, they both aspire to each other's life. If you remember, there was a scene where the teacher/poet wants to act like the other by using the guns while the other one tries to pretend he was the teacher by trying to be the kid's teacher.
...great film by the way. It's one of my favorites.

[–] weilp 15 years ago

I loved this movie, I cried and cried at the end.
I think the title made the poetry teacher sort of in the center (the everyman)
I want to be that ’man on the train’, someone you see in passing but you imagines has all the characteristics you wish you had.
I think he befriends him from the beginning because he looks dangerous and he wants something now and is less afraid, nothing to lose.
As an American I found the gangster a more familiar character then the faded French aristocrat (upper middle class?) teacher, but as I write this
I see he could catch a glimpse of someone and imagine…

[–] Janie522 15 years ago

I like the interplay of the scenes of Johnny preparing for the bank robbery while Jean was prepared for surgery. Both needed to use self-control and courage.

[–] tintin-23 15 years ago

Trains usually run on one track and have destinations in place and time...does it make sense that the train was a symbol of two lives-Rochefort & Hallyday- meeting, standing and then departing while influencing each others paths?

If I agree with your metaphor of the trains for the two lives, then I disagree with your conclusion. Indeed, these two lives were "on track" and had "destinations": Rochefort's was to die in the hospital, and Hallyday's was to give up on his wasted life. The fact that the two met did not change anything in their lives' outcomes (That is IMHO).

[–] Janie522 15 years ago

In meeting each other they came to be in touch with parts of themselves which had been hidden, due to necessity of surviving in the worlds to which each were born. Each was open to learning something from the other. I don't agree with the idea that each may have been "better suited" to the lives of the other. A fulfilled person has many sides to his/her personality and has made choices in life which explore and bring together all aspects.

[–] LTUM 12 years ago

i wondered if the train was meant to represent the boat on the river styx

"Cos... f__k's sake, who'd wanna keep trying to shoot a nice guy like me?" ---XXXX