At one time or another we have all lied to protect someone else from pain, to avoid hurting the feelings of others, or to get ourselves out of a scrape. Some use deception more consciously to manipulate and gain an advantage over others. Yet most of us are also aware of the threat and the danger that lies can pose, the suffering they can bring.

The Girl on the Train is an engrossing French film directed by Andre Techine that spins off from a macabre real-life incident of a young woman's story of being attacked on a train by black and Arab youth who thought she was a Jew. It was covered from top to bottom by the media and even elicited the response of the French President to the incident. At the time anti-Semitism was again rearing its ugly head in Paris and elsewhere. Techine's creative and complex take on the story is based on a stage play by co-writer Jean-Marie Besset.

Jeanne (Emilie Dequenne ) is a restless teenager who lives in a suburb of Paris with her widowed mother, Louise (Catherine Deneuve). While her mother tends her garden and babysits for little children, Jeanne tries to find a job as a secretary. One of the places she applies is a law firm run by Samuel Bleistein (Michel Blanc), one of her mother's old acquaintances who is an outspoken defender of Jewish causes. Judith (Ronit Elkabetz), his divorced daughter-in-law, thinks Jeanne is too flaky for the job. And besides, she is upset by a visit from her globe-trotting ex-husband Alex (Mathieu Demy) who wants to draw closer to his son Nathan (Jeremy Quaegebeur).

While rollerblading through the streets of Paris, Jeanne meets and is courted by Franck (Nicolas Duvauchelle), an aspiring wrestler and intense young man with dreams of becoming very rich and powerful. He lands a job as a caretaker of a warehouse and asks Jeanne to join him. They have a passionate relationship but he is troubled by her lying, which he sees as a terrible moral flaw. He probably reacts so strongly since he has not told her that the warehouse is just a front for a drug operation. Keeping the truth from someone you love is another form of lying.

Techine does not lay out the reasons for Jeanne's biggest lie — her fabrication about being attacked on the train — but he keeps us involved with her journey as she and her mother are invited to sort things out at Samuel Bleistein's country estate; his son, daughter-in-law, and nephew are also there. Nathan connects with Jeanne during a rainy night and explains to her why he knew she was lying about the attack.

This complex and well-acted drama circles around a large cast of characters and manages to make all of them interesting. The radiant and expansive beauty of Emilie Dequenne (Rosetta) is at the hub of this bewitching drama.