The Woman in the Fifth (2011)
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski

Film Synopsis

Tom Ricks is an American writer in his forties who moves to Paris after losing his university job through a foolish indiscretion.  He hopes that a fresh start in an unfamiliar city will allow him to repair his damaged life and win back the affection of his estranged daughter.  With no savings to fall back on, he must find work to support himself as he toils on his next novel.  He ends up working as a night porter in the shabbiest of hotels.  His dreary days suddenly brighten up when he makes the acquaintance of a seductive widow Margit, who quickly lures him into the most passionate of love affairs.  Tim gladly accepts her twice-weekly invitations to her apartment in the city's fifth arrondissement at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, on condition that he asks her no questions about her past, which remains shrouded in mystery. 

The writer then begins an affair with another woman, Ania, a barmaid at the cheap hotel where he presently boards.  When he learns about this relationship, Tim's neighbour attempts to extort money from the writer, but a short while later he dies.  Tim has further worries when his daughter suddenly goes missing.  Aware that the police suspect him of murder, the writer tries to provide himself with an alibi by revealing his frequent visits to Margit.  Checking this out, the police discover that not only is Margit dead, it also transpires that she hasn't lived at the address Tim gave them for over fifteen years!  Is it possible that the strange alluring woman in the fifth arrondissement is merely a figment of the writer's over-active imagination?  When Tim next visits her, Margit is as real as ever - the most real woman he has ever known...