The Woman in the Fifth

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Alain E @AlainE Jan 23 Many disappointed customers of a movie mischaracterised as thriller. This in fact is an intellectual, metaphysical work. The hero is an estranged father who is trying to reconnect with his young daughter who lives with her mother. We are never told if before arriving to Paris he was in prison or a psychiatric asylum. He keeps suffering losses. The day he arrives, takes the bus, falls asleep and he is robbed of all his possessions. Then he meets an alluring older woman, starts a relationship and later is revealed that this woman had killed herself about twenty years earlier. He also falls in love with a young immigrant girl who behaves more like a mother figure to our unmoored protagonist. The excellent cinematography includes recurrent pictures of forest life that is not clear what they symbolize. In the final scene he appears determined to abandon ordinary reality and follow his older lover. See more O g @RT76089177 07/01/2025 A strange film in many ways but enjoyed it See more Glafira Regina O @Glafira_Regina 05/10/2025 The film tells the story of an American writer who decides to come to Paris to visit his daughter from a once-happy marriage. He’s drowning in financial troubles and is forced to take a job as a night watchman in a semi-shady establishment, where he works on writing a book. The protagonist is filled with bitterness and apathy toward the world and everyone around him—except his daughter. But everything changes dramatically when he meets Margit. Who is this mysterious woman? What happened between Tom and his ex-wife? What lies ahead for him? We don’t get clear answers. From what I understood, the woman is a persistent thought and a personification of his mental illness—something he refused to acknowledge but eventually accepted and surrendered to. Another important moment: when the main character asks how long he’s supposed to stay with her, she replies, “undefined.” So, the screenwriter does leave him a chance at recovery. Although the meaning is deep and interesting, the film itself is quite dull, and the main character’s story is not really revealed. It’s a rather unconventional film and won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. For me, for example—it wasn’t. See more Maria H @RT48931525 04/12/2025 The movie is confusing and repetitive. No resolution. And very boring. See more Russell M @RT80074602 04/08/2025 Artistic, intriguing, yet ultimately left me flat. I hung in the entire disappointing way. See more Alastair N @RT73257224 09/04/2024 The critics and indeed the vast majority of viewers outside Poland miss the point of this majestic film entirely. Most of the "plot" is completely irrelevant. So, let me explain. The "Woman in the Fifth" is human temptation. Five is the biblical number for humans. Ethan Hawke is attracted to her with human lust. By contrast, when he arrives in Paris, circumstance leads him to Joanna Kulig. In the midst of those who are considered the lowest form of humanity, she shows him love and takes him upstairs to his room. Room number seven. Next door, in room six, the occupant is clearly in hell. Yes: 666 the number of the devil. And seven? Well, you've heard of seventh heaven. Joanna Kulig is Jesus. Later in the film, she leads him on to the roof of the hotel and speaks to him in Polish, a language he does not understand but it brings him to tears. On awakening, she looks over the rooftops at the Sacre Coeur. In every scene prior to this, Ethan is surrounded by high walls but in the next scene, Joanna holds his hand, arms outstretched as if on the cross, walking on a railway track. Yet still, despite the love of Jesus, an unconditional love that makes his soul soar, Ethan deserts her in favour of the woman in the fifth, deserts Jesus for the temptations of mortal flesh. For me, this is the best film ever made. See more Read all reviews

The Woman in the Fifth

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