“The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun” (TLCGG), or “La Dame dans l’auto avec des lunettes et un fusil,” is a watchable French-Belgian crime thriller directed by Joann Sfar. The movie is based on a book by Sebastien Japrisot. Unfortunately, the movie relies more on style and aesthetics than on the screenplay or setting the tone. The plot tells the story of a secretary who experiences the adventure of a lifetime when she accepts her boss’s request to spend the night at his house to complete a project.

Dany (Freya Mavor) is a secretary at an office in Paris who works for her boss, Michael (Benjamin Biolay). Dany makes it clear that she has never seen the ocean. Michael’s wife, Anita (Stacy Martin), is a former friend and colleague of Dany, but the two have not had a chance to meet for more than a year. Michael gives Dany a typing assignment to complete but asks her to complete it overnight at his home. He tells her that Anita would be glad to see her again.

Dany accepts, and Michael drives her to his home. When she arrives at his house, her welcome from Anita is cordial and friendly, but one senses that there is no warmth. Anita and Michael seem to be preoccupied. Abruptly, the couple leaves, claiming they are attending a party, and leave Dany at home alone with their young daughter.

Dany falls asleep and has a nightmare where she is getting intimate with Michael, but he suddenly strangles her. Is this a premonition of things to come? The next morning, the couple announces that they are going on a trip and asks Dany to drop them and their daughter at the airport in their turquoise blue Ford Thunderbird. Michael asks her to bring the car back to their home and then leave. The couple brushes away Dany’s concerns that she cannot drive a stick.

After dropping the couple at the airport, Dany decides to take the opportunity to drive to the beach in their car. She decides to pamper herself and buys clothes at a shopping center. As she is leaving, a woman approaches her and asks her how she is feeling. The woman, who works at a cafe nearby, tells her that she, Dany, was there the previous day. When Dany insists that she has never been there, the woman insists that Dany ate at her cafe the previous day.

After this strange exchange, Dany stops at a gas station and goes to a restroom. Here, an unseen assailant grabs her from behind, violently attacks her, injures her wrist by slamming a door on it, and leaves the scene. When Dany screams loudly in pain, the owner of the facility and a few other men come to her assistance.

As her hand is being bandaged, Dany tells the owner about the attack and the injury caused to her wrist. However, the owner protests and accuses her of lying, claiming that she had the same injury when she came there the previous day. He also claims to have fixed her car the previous day.

As she is leaving, he apologizes for making a pass at her the previous day. A policeman stops her next and knows her name. To get away from him, Dany claims to be staying at a hotel nearby, and the policeman, out of concern for her wrist injury, drives behind her to the hotel.

At the hotel, Dany, on the verge of losing her mind, asks the male receptionist if there is a room booked in her name. Strangely enough, this is the case. At the hotel, she meets a charmer who calls himself Georges (Elio Germano). Georges claims to be a successful businessman. Despite realizing that Georges is a con artist, Dany is drawn to him.

More adventures ensue, and Dany uncovers the mystery behind all the surreal happenings. Are these Dany’s illusions? Is someone impersonating her? How could someone know all the places she would visit when she did not plan on being at all these places and made spontaneous decisions? The rest of the plot answers these questions.

Unfortunately, Joann Sfar cannot emulate masters like David Lynch or Brian De Palma in creating the surreal tone in this movie. More thought and imagination could have gone into creating some of the movie’s characters.

For instance, the people at the gas station were not menacing enough to arouse fear in the audience. If they were creepy-looking and fearsome enough to terrify Dany, it would have enhanced the theme. The same is true for the policeman who stopped her.

Also, I felt that Elio Germano was miscast as Georges. Had Georges been more charming and enigmatic, it would have kept the audience guessing as to what he was up to and if he was also part of some conspiracy. It would also have made Dany’s attraction to him more credible.

One saving grace for the movie is its cinematography. I loved the scenes where Dany stops at the shopping center. The imagery of the outdoor scenes was quite captivating. The background music has some good catchy tunes too. Having said that, I felt more noir-type scenes with the use of darkness, light, and shadow could have been thrown in for added effect. At times, a suspenseful background score could also have enhanced the movie experience.

Some toning down of the glamor scenes also would have been preferable. I think there were too many scenes of Dany posing and strutting like a model that distracted from the narrative.

The plot of the film, by itself, is not bad. I would consider this movie a passable one-time watch at best. A taut screenplay, better dialogues, more intrigue, and imagination would have made this a good movie, not just something “worth watching.” Indeed, Joann Sfar missed an opportunity to make a great movie.