Pawel Pawlikowski: The Woman in the Fifth

 

A talented and successful young intellectual ex-patriot  is so self centered, frustrated, and abusive he ends up penniless in a sordid Paris SRO where he shares the bathroom with a very large, belligerent man who refuses to flush the toilet. A terrible fate - but not really in need of further resolution. 

Strange things begin to happen. Possibly the story is redeemed by making viewers decide how much has been imagined/written by the protagonist himself. But like the infinite regressions in a hall of mirrors, nothing is at stake  - it’s just cleverness. Convincing acting and good filming, however. 

The sugar coated nihilism of the privileged and entitled.