MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Station’ a Brief Encounter With a Twist

Sergio Rubini’s “The Station” (at the Sunset 5) is one of those sly charmers, winning in its modesty and intimacy, that sneaks up on you and takes you by surprise. Since its key setting is a train station, and it involves a chance meeting between a man and a woman, it inevitably brings to mind “Brief Encounter”--but with a twist.

Unlike “Brief Encounter’s” solidly middle-class Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, Rubini’s couple are from completely different worlds. Rubini casts himself as Domenico, a slightly built, unhandsome but warm and likable young stationmaster, who works the night shift in a small-town railway station in southern Italy. Refreshingly, Domenico is a contented man, doing a job his father did before him and taking pride in his work. His one trip to Rome was enough: The Eternal City struck him as hopelessly chaotic and offering nothing to do. Domenico may be unsophisticated, but as events reveal, he’s resourceful and courageous.

One evening, in the midst of a gathering storm, Domenico’s highly organized routines in his worn, inviting old office are interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful but distraught young woman, Flavia (Margherita Buy), eager to take the next train for Rome. Since she will be stuck there till the next morning, the two strike up a conversation. An heiress, Flavia has just fled a house party at a nearby aristocratic estate after realizing that her fiance is interested only in exploiting her by invoking her tycoon father’s name to cinch a big business deal.

Flavia has never met a man like the kindly Domenico, who is solicitous of her welfare without any ulterior motives and out of sheer goodness. He is in fact so unfamiliar a type to her that it takes awhile for her to appreciate him fully. (Under normal circumstances, she would never really notice him.) Flavia, in turn, is such a knockout that she dazzles Domenico without even meaning to, making him forget, at least momentarily, his own fiancee who is off on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. Domenico and Flavia so captivate each other as they captivate us that when fear overtakes them it catches us by surprise as much as it does them. Just as they’ve been distracted, so have we.

As scary as “The Station” (Times-rated Mature for adult themes, some violence) gets, it never turns into the kind of standard thriller that loses track of its most important aspect, the unexpected impact Domenico and Flavia have upon each other. For all the tension it generates it is ultimately romantic and poignant--and not without humor.

In his directorial debut, Rubini has done a flawless job of transposing Umberto Marino’s play to the screen, with Marino as well as Gianfilippo Ascione collaborating with him on the script. Working with highly skilled cinematographer Alessio Gelsini, Rubini moves effortlessly between the cozy station interior and the storm-ravaged night; never, inside or out-of-doors, is there the feeling that you’re watching a filmed play. Rubini himself gives a classic portrayal of an average-looking man whose mild, gentle demeanor hides a genuine hero, and from Margherita Buy he draws an equally finely shaded performance as a young woman jolted into discovery of self--and of the innate decency and strength so characteristic of so many seemingly ordinary people.

‘The Station’

Sergio Rubini: Domenico

Margherita Buy: Flavia

Ennio Fantastichini: Danilo

An Aries Film release of a Fandango S.r.l. production. Director Sergio Rubini. Producer Domenico Procacci. Screenplay by Umberto Marino, Gianfilippo Ascione, Rubini; from a play by Marino. Cinematographer Alessio Gelsini. Editor Angelo Nicolini. Costumes and sets Carolina Ferrara, Luca Gobbi. Sound Franco Borni. In Italian, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 88 minutes.

Times-rated Mature (adult themes, some violence).