A fun, twisted venture

"Roman de Gare" -- a witty yet ultimately poignant guessing game in which nobody is quite what he or she seems -- is arguably Claude Lelouch's best film. Its title translates as "airport novel," and Lelouch pays homage to the lure of those high adventures by mining one of his typically extravagant plots for both humor and pathos, raising provocative questions of identity and of the confusion of truth and fiction.

After a flurry of foreshadowing moments, the film settles on an attractive but insecure Paris hairdresser (Audrey Dana), who is ditched at 3 a.m. at a gas station by the fiance she is taking to meet her parents. Along comes a middle-aged man (Dominique Pinon), whom she persuades to pose as her fiance to save face with her family. But who is he? He could be a runaway high school teacher with a wife and two children back in Paris. Or he could be a serial killer. The second half of the film focuses on Pinon and the timelessly elegant Fanny Ardant, never better as a bestselling novelist whose encounter with Pinon sets off a series of dizzying developments, culminating in a breathtaking turn of the tables that explodes like a string of firecrackers. The freshness and originality that flow through "Roman de Gare" now burst into full flower, revealing the director's depth and perception.

-- Kevin Thomas

"Roman de Gare." In French with English subtitles. MPAA rating: R for brief language and sexual references. Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes. In selected theaters.

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A tender look at coming of age

Celine Sciamma's absorbing, quietly illuminating "Water Lilies" depicts a group of high school students in the throes of coming of age with seriousness and sensitivity. The skinny Marie (Pauline Acquart) and her plump best friend, Anne (Louise Blachere), are frequent spectators of the graceful performances of the synchronized swimming team, and soon Marie becomes enthralled by its captain, Floriane (Adele Haenel), a dark blond beauty who exudes self-confidence and a limitless sense of entitlement. Floriane is an enigma in which her surprising vulnerability vies with her reflexive manipulativeness. She is pursued by Francois (Warren Jacquin), the handsomest member of the boys' swimming team, who is viewed with longing by Anne. The three girls are naturally experiencing the full onslaught of sexuality and emotions, and it is Sciamma's particular gift in her assured debut film that she evokes how ill-defined these feelings are. The elegant "Water Lilies" is not about answers but about discovery of self and of others in all its pain and pleasure.