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Man on the Train

Date: Jul 23 2003

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Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

growing on me

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

In the French film Man on the Train, notorious criminal Milan (Johnny Hallyday) is sent to a small French town to knock off the local bank. With no place to stay, he accepts a retired schoolteacher’s (Jean Rochefort) offer of shelter. Quickly they find that their lives might have turned out better if they were in one another’s shoes. (imdb.com)

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Miguel

Anna

Miguel: Anna, tell me about this movie you, uh, saw the other night.

Anna: You mean Man on the Train?

Miguel: Yeah, I think that’s the one you mentioned earlier.

Anna: Uh, it’s a drama about two guys – a old guy and a young guy. I think that’s the one.

Miguel: So, what’s it about?

Anna: Um, in a nutshell, the young man is a criminal coming to rob a bank and the old man is a wealthy retired man, and they wish they could trade lives.

Miguel: Hmm. That sounds interesting. So, tell me more.

Anna: It’s set in France, and in fact is in French, with subtitles, and you kind of don’t like the characters, ‘cause one’s a criminal, but once you start seeing his motivation you learn to like him a lot better.

Miguel: That sounds kind of intriguing. So, are you saying I should see it or not? I can’t tell.

Anna: I think you should. It’s a hard movie to talk about without giving away the plot, but if you like movies that make you think and really get to people’s motivations, then you should see it for sure.

Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

I don’t see a lot of foreign films, but I’m glad I saw this one. It was very interesting. Both of the main characters were a challenge to watch, because I didn’t like either of them at the start of the movie. Then, over time, they started growing on me.
If you don’t mind watching movies with subtitles, you should definitely check out Man on the Train.
See you at the movies!
Anna