Trans-Europ Express (1966)

☆ ☆ ½

Trans-Europ Express (1966) – A. Robbe-Grillet

Perverse, playful, and ultimately rather boring, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s second film is less interesting than his first (L’Immortelle) or his script for Resnais’s Last Year at Marienbad.  Possibly this is because, its conceit – a writer, director, and script girl brainstorm a film while riding on the train, a film that we actually see – feels rather half-assed.  Jean-Louis Trintignant gives a winking performance but Robbe-Grillet’s efforts to confuse the audience seem to have confused him too.  He is a drug courier between Paris and Antwerp – but who is he working for? More worrisome is the introduction of S&M content that, although seeming consensual, also feels misogynistic and accepting of violence toward women.  I can’t get down with that and it feels rather jarring when the rest of the film wants to be light-hearted.  The end stare at a naked girl in chains on stage at a club is symptomatic of this problem – the film stops dead in its tracks and fortunately ends.