Patrice Leconte is one of the most talented and accessible storytellers in French Cinema today. Starting out with populist French comedies such as Les Bronzés, and Les Bronzés font du Ski (not recommended for an international audience), Leconte moved on to direct such gems as Monsieur Hire, Ridicule, and Girl on the Bridge.

Many recent French directors have succumbed to the lure of art pornographique (or is it porno artistique?) to rouse audiences from their torpor, Leconte, like Jeunet and a couple of others, has defined a style for himself. The essence of European cinema it would seem, is creating a meaningful story, and telling it in an interesting or entertaining way. Too many films from across the Atlantic forgo the meaningful bit, and too many European attempts ignore the interesting bit. The result is a general paucity of quality in Cinema today.

His latest film, The Man on the Train is an excellent example of Leconte's work. In it, he brings together two completely different characters: the brilliant Jean Rochefort and French rocker Johnny Halliday. In a small provincial town, a rugged and mysterious man (Halliday) arrives on a train and quite by accident, meets a retired local teacher (Rochefort). They come from two worlds that should never really meet.

Jean Rochefort offers an extraordinary performance full of Humanity in all its strength and weakness, all its beauty and triviality. It is particularly touching that Leconte successfully tells, and entertains with a story about two aging men. Is there anything more taboo in Hollywood, than old age? By succeeding in this, Leconte reassures us: it is the film-makers' lack of taste and not the audiences' that are to blame for the poor quality of film-fare today.

The Man on the Train opens at the IFC on the 19^th of April and runs until the 30^th.