‘Girl on the Train’: An intriguing ride
Like the “Girl on the Train,” we've probably all mused about the lives of people whose homes are passed by trains multiple times a day. Unlike the “Girl on the Train,” we've probably not traveled by train daily nor fantasized about particular people living in those homes.
Rachel Watson (played to perfection by Emily Blunt) is divorced. Her ex-husband Tom (Justin Theroux) is remarried and living in the house he and Rachel bought together with his new wife Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and their infant daughter. The house is on the train route that Rachel rides twice a day just to see what's going on at her old house — and to continue her peeping Tom-like fascination with another couple that live a few doors before the Watson home whom she doesn't know.
From the outside looking in, Rachel thinks the couple she names Jason and Jess (but are really Scott and Megan) are perfect. Beautiful and in love. Rachel wants what they have. Privy to her inner dialogue, we know Rachel wishes she could actually be Megan (Haley Bennett). But what she doesn't know is Megan is Tom and Anna's nanny. If she knew that, Rachel would have wished to be Megan even more. Rachel wasn't able to conceive and even went the invitro route, unsuccessfully. She began drinking to drown this sorrow and ended up with a nasty drinking problem.
And when Rachel's under the influence she texts and calls her ex. Sometimes she shows up at her former house looking in. One day she does more than that. She walks into the house when she hears baby Evie crying. Anna is asleep on the sofa so Rachel lifts the child from her cradle and into her arms — then walks out the door with her. A panicked Anna runs outside to see Rachel at the edge of the yard and calls out to Rachel who puts the child down in the grass as Anna comes running.
Another thing Rachel doesn't know is that Megan's life is far from perfect. She is actually bored with her life and perks things up by having numerous affairs — including with Tom. Megan is in therapy and wants to do him too, but the sex doesn't take away a constant sadness she carries around. Scott (Luke Evans) knows nothing about his wife's transgressions. All he knows is he wants to have a family but Megan is not too keen on the idea.
One day, during a ride on the train through her old neighborhood, Rachel sees something not good happening on the upper deck of Scott and Megan's house. Or did she? She races down the length of car number three, but the train is moving too fast. Was that Megan on her deck kissing another man?
The next night, really in her cups, Rachel is riding the train and as the “perfect couple's” home comes into view she impulsively decides to get off the train at the stop in the old neighborhood. As she's sliding on the fallen leaves she sees a woman running … Rachel makes it to the pavement and runs toward the tunnel shouting “Whore!” And the scene fades out. Next thing you know, it's morning and Rachel is waking up in her bed with blood on her hands. And head. What the hell happened?
Things go from bad to worse for the former Mrs. Watson when she learns the woman, Megan Hipwell, went missing last night. As Rachel washes the blood off her body, her mind is racing: what happened? Was she involved in this Megan Hipwell's disappearance? Did she kill Megan Hipwell?
This taut psychodrama gets high marks due to first rate performances by Blunt and Theroux; excellent direction by Tate Taylor and cinematography by Charlotte Bruus Christensen, and a well written screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson (based on Paula Hawkins' best selling novel of the same name).
“Girl on the Train” opens at The Harbor Theatre tonight, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. and continues at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, Sunday, Oct. 30 and Wednesday, Nov. 2. An additional 2 p.m. matinee screens on Oct. 30. The theater is located in the Meadow Mall at 185 Townsend Avenue.
Event Date
Address
185 Townsend Avenue
Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538
United States