Mélanie silently and secretly plans her revenge, which she is finally able to execute some years later, when she is circa 19 years old. Through her impeccable scholastic efforts, Mélanie lands an internship at a prestigious law office headed by Ariene's husband, Jean (Pascal Greggory). There, she learns that Jean and Ariane need a governess for their preteen son, Tristan (Antoine Martynciow).
Mélanie takes the job and moves into Jean's oversized mansion. The first order of business for Mélanie is to encourage Tristan, a budding pianist, to repeatedly practice a challenging score at a fast tempo. This will give him tendonitis.
But Mélanie's major goal is to reverse the scene of her childhood failure: Have Ariene fail an important audition. The ceaselessly inscrutable Mélanie accomplishes this by winning the confidence, and even the intimacy of emotionally fragile Ariane. Mélanie also becomes Ariane's page turner, a small but important task during a live concert. A page turner flips the sheets of the piano score so that the hands and attention of the pianist can be focused on the instrument. Apparently, no one has invented a musical teleprompter.
Ariene is part of a classical trio that includes violinist Virginie (Clotilde Mollet) and cellist Laurent (Xavier De Guillebon). Virginie is Ariene's best friend. Laurent flirts with Mélanie, who makes no effort (at first) to discourage him.
How others will see it. The Page Turner was nominated for three Cesar awards, which are the French equivalent of the Oscars. The film was otherwise ignored, although perhaps its makers simply failed to trot the movie around the international awards circuit. It is slow moving and subtitled, but most viewers won't mind, since Déborah François is ravishing, shows a good deal of skin, and has myriad close-ups.
How I felt about it. As I see it, the story has only two flaws. The opportunity to become Tristan's governess is a longshot, something that Mélanie could not have expected prior to getting the internship. Certainly, Mélanie has no interest in exacting revenge solely on Jean, whose behavior toward her is unceasingly respectful.
The other flaw is that Mélanie risks her station (and opportunity to ruin Ariane's audition) by impaling the foot of impudent Laurent with the icepick-like point of a cello stand, after he makes the mistake of stealing second base without touching first base.
Most viewers will regard Mélanie as the protagonist instead of the antagonist. That is, they will root for her as she meticulously executes her well-concealed plan against Ariane. This is disconcerting, in that however beautiful Mélanie may be, she is a sociopath. If you cross her, inadvertently or not, she won't inform you and give you the opportunity to apologize or make amends. She will instead try to sabotage your entire life. She could have reacted in many ways to Laurent besides waiting for him to "earn" a spike through the foot. And leave Tristan out of the plans for revenge. What did he ever do to anyone?