A suspenseful, psychological thriller
Fresh off the international best-selling book lists, Paula Hawkins’ The Girl On
the Train makes a generally successful and faithful transition to film. Directed by Tate Taylor (best known for The Help) and with a screenplay from Erin Cressida Wilson, the movie stars Emily Blunt as Rachel, the disturbed ex-wife of Tom (Justin Theroux), who, on her daily commute, gazes on the house she used to live in, where Tom still resides, but now with Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and their baby. Rachel also idealizes the couple she spies a few houses down, Megan and Scott (Haley Bennett and Luke Evans).
The storyline of this suspenseful, psychological thriller has to do with Rachel getting involved with the two couples as she sees glimpses of Megan on her porch with another man; and the subsequent disappearance of Megan. No spoilers here, but in much the same manner as the novel, the film used shifting perspectives in order to tease us and delay the reveal of what is truly behind the disappearance of Megan. So, the film ratchets up the suspense quotient, as the full picture gradually reaches full focus. How sordid, disturbing and inflammatory the true facts are, are wonderfully rendered in a manner that echoes the novel’s nail-biting development.
There is a shift in location from the suburbs of London to Westchester, New York, and this results in townhouses on the outskirts of London now becoming grand homes. There is a story weakness here as no one seemed to question how realistic it is to find a woman living in such a house temping as a nanny for a couple who lives a few houses away. But other than this, and the fact that like the novel, the film relies too often on interior monologues (which work better in book form); we do find a creditable adaptation that should satisfy the millions of readers of the book.
Blunt is wonderful as Rachel. If in the novel I often found Rachel pathetic, unhinged, on the verge of being a bona fide stalker who can’t move on; Blunt does a pitch-perfect portrayal of such a woman. In the book, an alcoholic lush who often blacks out and gets through the day in a stupor, the Rachel in the film stays true to such a portrayal.
Haley as Megan is the other standout in the film, a psychologically complex Lolita seductress/martyr. And Ferguson as Anna gives us an uptight, insecure current wife interpretation that similarly echoes what we discovered in the book. For my son, Luca, who never read the book, this was one that disturbed him, and kept him on the edge of his seat with the quietly steely suspense factor.