It might be a bit of an exaggeration to say that Belgian cinema begins with the films of André Delvaux, but that doesn’t mean this statement is completely untrue. Delvaux was not only the first Belgian director to achieve international fame, but he was also an interesting and original creator who left behind several films that bear the imprint of a personal artistic conception. The 1968 ‘Un soir, un train‘ was his second feature film, based, like the first, on a short story by the Belgian Flemish writer Johan Daisne. It managed to bring to the screen a remarkable international cast. Today many of us choose to watch it for the screen presence, together, of Yves Montand and Anouk Aimée Aimée, but that is not the only reason why this film deserves to be watched or re-watched.
The story takes place in 1968, one of the most turbulent years of the second half of the 20th century, the year of student riots, demonstrations against the Vietnam War and anti-capitalist protests, the year of the Prague Spring and its suppression by Soviet tanks. In that year, apparently peaceful Belgium was also the theater of one of the most dramatic episodes of the conflict between the Flemish and the French-speaking population, a conflict that continues to this day, periodically re-emerging in various forms. Mathias, the hero of the film, lives in a place and has a profession that symbolically accumulates elements of the conflict. He is a linguist and professor of French in a university in the Flemish area. His life and work should be an example of trying to reconcile through communication, but things are not easy. Flemish students (the majority) go on strike demanding the expulsion of francophones from the university (they would succeed after a few years). Even his private life is facing difficulties, his long-time girlfriend, the beautiful theater director Anne, is finding it increasingly tough to bear the heavy atmosphere due to communication difficulties. After a dispute between the two lovers, Mathias leaves by train for another university where he is scheduled to hold a conference. Anne also gets on the train at the last moment and then … disappears. From here the story takes a completely different turn.
Belgium is not just the country of quiet bourgeois where two national communities try to coexist despite different languages and cultures. It is also the land of Georges Simenon with his detective mysteries and René Magritte with the routine permanently invaded by dreams. In ‘Un soir, un train‘ we are dealing with a radical change of tone and style. The first part of the film is a relationship drama against the background of political turmoil that influences the relationship between the two heroes. The woman’s disappearance briefly triggers a detective mystery, but the film immediately enters the territory of surrealism. Basically, Delvaux departs from his contemporary reality to interpret it through decomposition and dreamlike reconstruction. And in dreams and nightmares, everything is possible. Even communicating without a shared language, even solving mysteries differently than in reality. The threat of death hangs over this whole story – from the play Anne directs to the final scene that seems to offer a solution to what we’ve seen, but can we be sure we’re not still in a dream? Yves Montand, who is almost permanently on screen in a complex role, was at a point in his career where he had completed the roles of his youth and was preparing for his big roles in the political films of Costa-Gavras. Also appearing in the film, in a supporting but a key role, is Adriana Bogdan, an actress who had had the time to play in Romania in Mircea Mureșan’s ‘Răscoala’ and was starting a career that would prove to be too short in Western European cinema. The most impressive appearance, however, is undoubtedly that of Anouk Aimée, mesmerizing in beauty and personality. For those who loved and admired her, ‘Un soir, un train‘ is also a wonderful opportunity to remember her and say farewell.