Heartwarming short story of this lady who is full of life. Great concept and beautiful photography I must say. It's engaging, fun and really well made. Just finished watching on Amazon Prime.
7 Reviews
Wonderful piece of life!
jkt200613 June 2020
One of the few fun films nominated for Best Live Action Short this year....
planktonrules11 February 2017
This film is a strange little comedy about a very odd Swiss woman (ably played by British actress Jane Birkin). Every morning, like clockwork, she arises from bed at 6:05am in order to wave at the train speeding past her house. And, in the evenings, she does the same
each time waving her Swiss flag madly at the passing train! Apart from this odd ritual, she is a grouchy and rather miserable woman. However, her mundane and antisocial demeanor begins to change when someone from the train begins sending her fan mail— thanking her for the years she's spent greeting the train! She, in turn, begins writing back to this unknown admirer! What's next?
Just see this one, as I don't want to spoil the suspense. This film is just fun .something that can't really be said about most of the nominees this year. In fact, so many of the films left the audience feeling a bit depressed that La Femme et la TGU has a strong chance of winning, though I'd still bet on Enemies Within.
Just see this one, as I don't want to spoil the suspense. This film is just fun .something that can't really be said about most of the nominees this year. In fact, so many of the films left the audience feeling a bit depressed that La Femme et la TGU has a strong chance of winning, though I'd still bet on Enemies Within.
The Railroad Lady
anisen-undefined6 August 2018
Touching Performance from Birkin
Michael_Elliott26 February 2017
La femme et le TGV (2016)
*** (out of 4)
Elise (Jane Birkin) is a lonely woman who lives alone in a small house that sets right by a TGV track. Each morning she follows the same routine by opening the window by the track and waving a flag. One day she receives a letter from someone on the train who appreciates her gesture and before long the two strike up a relationship.
LA FEMME ET LE TGV is one of the five Oscar-nominated short for Best Live Action. If you're a fan of watching these type of shorts then you should find this one to be rather entertaining, although it does run on a bit too long at thirty-minutes. With that said, for the most part there's a lot of heart and charm to be found in the picture and there's also an extremely good performance by Birkin. She's certainly very believable in the role and helps carry the picture with her touching performance.
*** (out of 4)
Elise (Jane Birkin) is a lonely woman who lives alone in a small house that sets right by a TGV track. Each morning she follows the same routine by opening the window by the track and waving a flag. One day she receives a letter from someone on the train who appreciates her gesture and before long the two strike up a relationship.
LA FEMME ET LE TGV is one of the five Oscar-nominated short for Best Live Action. If you're a fan of watching these type of shorts then you should find this one to be rather entertaining, although it does run on a bit too long at thirty-minutes. With that said, for the most part there's a lot of heart and charm to be found in the picture and there's also an extremely good performance by Birkin. She's certainly very believable in the role and helps carry the picture with her touching performance.
our live is like a trip or like an observer of the others trips
francis-deandrade6 April 2017
This story is a true story, so this brings a special emotion level when watching. In the audience there was a woman telling; "hey, it happened exactly the same to me! "
So without spoiler alert I can say: what a romantic and funny story can occur when you live in a place like the protagonists live: close to a railway track.
Yes, feel invited to watch that short movie; the actress is really touching our feelings and its poetic and beautiful.
So without spoiler alert I can say: what a romantic and funny story can occur when you live in a place like the protagonists live: close to a railway track.
Yes, feel invited to watch that short movie; the actress is really touching our feelings and its poetic and beautiful.
Very mediocre and not Oscar worthy
Horst_In_Translation9 March 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"La femme et le TGV" is a half-hour live action film from Switzerland and it resulted in the first Oscar nomination for Timo von Gunten, a still relatively young filmmaker from Switzerland. But it is a French-language movie about an old lady and the connection she makes with a TGV driver. From all five Oscar nominees in the Live Action short category, Jane Birkin is probably the biggest name in terms of the cast, but sadly I must say it also feels as if her participation in this project is the main reason why it was nominated. The emotional aspects felt very much for the sake of it and I don't think Birkin elevated the mediocre as much as I hoped she would. So yeah, from an Oscar-nominated film I definitely expect more. One other reviewer called it a "masterpiece of mediocrity" and I tend to agree here. There sure is some ambition in this one and the depiction of lonesomeness definitely could have been better with a script that shows more subtlety and attention to detail, but somehow it is not working out. von Gunten, however, is still very young, so I hope and I am positive he steps things up in the future if he keeps making movies. I personally don't recommend the watch here and I am also not sure if an Academy Award nomination here is justified. Probably not, but hey at least it did not win. The winner from Hungary is clearly superior in my opinion. "The Railroad Lady" is worth checking out only for the very biggest Jane Birkin admirers. I give it a thumbs-down.
A masterpiece of mediocrity
jewbacca50819 August 2016
This will be a short review for a short film that unfortunately feels longer than it actually is.
After a fairly effective beginning, the story immediately begins to tread water. It's repetitive, undramatic and predictable. As for the actors: Jane Birkin regularly appears unsure of what emotion to express, her face saying more about her age than about her characters struggle. Lucien Guignard seems to channel John Travolta's Danny from Grease, which, while amusing, quickly gets stale (which says a lot, considering the the entire film is only thirty minutes long).
Ultimately the film feels like the hundredth iteration of the stereotypical drama about the lonely, sentimental older lady.
After a fairly effective beginning, the story immediately begins to tread water. It's repetitive, undramatic and predictable. As for the actors: Jane Birkin regularly appears unsure of what emotion to express, her face saying more about her age than about her characters struggle. Lucien Guignard seems to channel John Travolta's Danny from Grease, which, while amusing, quickly gets stale (which says a lot, considering the the entire film is only thirty minutes long).
Ultimately the film feels like the hundredth iteration of the stereotypical drama about the lonely, sentimental older lady.
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