The Woman in the Fifth

Ethan Hawke is a brilliant actor, but his performance as Tom Ricks, an American lost in Paris, is one of the most tour-de-force accomplishments of his oeuvre thus far. A recently unemployed university lecturer, Tom has arrived in Paris to try and reconcile with his ex-wife, who despite the presence of their young daughter, calls the police in terror when she sees him. Something clearly isn't right with Tom. He flees, and soon afterwards his belongings and money are stolen. He begins to work for a shady bar owner in return for food and lodging, but Tom soon seems to entirely forget his ex-wife and daughter. He takes up a torrid affair with an alluring woman (Kristin Scott Thomas) in her apartment in the 5th arrondissement. But the more Tom thinks he is pulling himself together, the more his universe seems to continue to unravel.Director Pawel Pawlikowski expertly winds the atmosphere of dread and suspense. In the line of great American heroes astonished by their apparent powerlessness, Hawke creates a zeitgeist hero for the new decade. - Jaie Laplante