Match Point is one of the best romantic thrillers I have seen. It is a sub-genre that rarely gives us completely satisfying movies since we first must have a believable romantic story or situation, with characters interesting and usually sexually appealing enough to watch for a few hours—often what’s romantic to some is gag inducing corny, sentimental clap trap to others. Then you have to add other elements to the love story and romance to make the picture a thriller.

Match Point succeeds as a tale of a dysfunctional love triangle and a thriller set in London. It features exceptional acting from a very well cast group of actors and just when it starts to become slightly too talky and repetitive it takes a twist into very dark territory justifying what it has been doing previously.

The film is not perfect nor would I call it a masterpiece since it is not original enough in concept or execution. I though of Patricia Highsmith’s RIPLEY character several times and of Claude Chabrol (the French Hitchcock*) films with a little bit of Alfred Hitchcock thrown in as well. What’s surprising is that this is not a film made by Jonathan Demme or Anthony Minghella or Sydney Pollack – it is believe it or not, Woody Allen’s latest film.

Match Point bears little resemblance to what most people would consider a Woody Allen movie. It is a romantic drama that turns into a crime thriller during it’s very tense final half hour. It is in color, not black and white. It is not 100 minutes, but 125 minutes long. It is not a comedy. Woody Allen does not appear in it and it does not feature a Woody Allen type of character either. It is set in London –not New York and focuses in on 20 something characters, rather than middle aged ones. It is not an homage to Bergman or Fellini and does not have an experimental structure.

Some might compare the film to Woody’s Crimes and Misdemeanors, but it is a far different film and it’s tone, structure, characters, pacing and story bear little resemblance. Actually the only similarity is that both films are fairly serious and have a dark twist to them. I am also very happy to report that in Match Point there are no stories about women who get defecated upon.

Match Point has a rather slow pace as it establishes the relationships of several characters who are living among a very wealthy family in London. It scrutinizes a morally flawed character making poor decisions regarding his relationships with two women. We slowly get to know the world through the eyes of an ambitious young man who was briefly a tennis pro and now is involved with the sister of a wealthy young man he gives tennis lessons to.

We scrutinize this morally flawed character who makes poor decisions regarding his relationship to two women. Where this is going is telegraphed through the Opera arias used on the soundtrack and the hints we get of a character reading Doestevsky (The Idiot and Crime and Punishment). However, most in the audience won’t be able to translate the Opera arias which include: “Mi par d'udir ancora" from "I Pescatori di Perle" Composed by Georges Bizet Performed by Enrico Caruso and "Mia piccirella" from "Salvator Rosa"Composed by Carlos Gomes Performed by Enrico Caruso, "Gualtier Malde!.. Caro nome"from "Rigoletto" Composed by Giuseppe Verdi, Vocal - Mary Hegarty Piano - Tim Lole, "Arresta" from "Guglielmo Tell" Composed by Gioacchino Rossini Performed by Janez Lotric & Igor Morozov and several others. Some will assume there might be some tip-offs in the soundtrack choices just as love ballads and modern music is often used in movies to create emotional shortcuts.

Most won’t have the ability to make the connections between what Caruso and others are singing about, so one might feel a bit like the fish out of water character who is central to all that is going on—but still an active manipulating participant. (Those that have seen the film should understand what I mean by this last sentence—others please be patient with my slightly obtuse writing since I’m trying not to spoil parts of the film for anyone). This was very interesting to me. You can complain how music is often used in a very lazy way to graft emotions onto characters and scenes by way of what is attached to a piece of music rather then through good writing, direction or acting. Well, what if we have someone who does this, but with more obscure music and references that most in the audience will not follow along with? It’s a comment I believe on the practice of doing this, one that has gained acceptance over the years to the detriment of good writing and story-telling.

Match Point however has good writing and story-telling. It’s carefully, purposefully constructed. It opens with a visual of a tennis ball going over a net and then hitting the net and freezing. The narrator explains it will either go over the net and score a point, or drop on the wrong side of the net and cost a point. Perhaps it is luck, or fate, or both. What do you believe?

There are philosophies and questions in this movie familiar to Wood Allen fans, yet they there’s new situations, characters and settings that make all of it seem fresh, as if another filmmaker entirely is asking these question and sharing thoughts.

I will try not to give too much away in my review so that if you are reading this review before seeing the movie it will not completely ruin the films surprises and twists. I would still strongly suggest that if you have an interest in seeing a very well done romantic thriller otherwise known as this very different, highly recommended Woody Allen film, you stop reading, see the film and return to this review later. I purposefully avoided reading anything about the film and will not be exploring what others have been saying about it until after I have finished writing this review.

Woody Allen films have come under attack from critics the last several years because they don’t surprise us like they once did. After his first 24 or 25 films he pretty much showed us his good/bad side, all his influences and went through his bags of tricks and influences and homages. Now he’s up to about 35 films. Never mind that a lot of the underappreciated Everyone Says I Love You is out on a limb in unfashionable territory—it’s an older person’s movie and corny and quaint and Woody sorta’ gets Julie Roberts (which to me is pretty darn funny!!). There was the excellent Sweet and Lowdown and large portions of his last several movies Small Time Crooks, Hollywood Endings, Curse of the Jade Scorpion were creative and funny even if they didn’t quite hold together as solid films. For some he’s lost his pizzas, his ideas and comedy are looking formula and stale, they are too predictable. He’s also had some downright terrible widely reported rumors and stories told about him. It even became fashionable to dislike him and many wondered why he keeps making at least one film per year when so few people seem to be interested in them.

Well just when it seemed Allen was fading away….he comes roaring back with a superb film that’s more melodrama, romance with a bit of a crime thriller, than a comedy. It’s also drawing a sizeable crowd.

We know from the familiar plain wrapper credits at the beginning of Match Point that it is a Woody Allen film, but instead of Dixieland styled Jazz we hear opera over the credits—a tragic Verdi aria to be exact. We’ll even here a scratchy Caruso recording of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amorei about a a man who takes a love potion and inherits a fortune.

For part of the film you might think you are watching a Merchant/Ivory production. We meet former tennis pro Chris Wilton (played by Jonathan –Bend it Like Beckham - Rhys-Meyers) who has just been hired to give lessons at an exclusive expensive tennis club in London. He’s Irish-born and we learn he grew up poor (his father found religion after losing both his legs). He bonds quickly with Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) a truly spoiled man in his mid 20s.

They share an appreciation of the Opera and Tom invites Chris to his family’s box at the opera. Chris accepts and winds up meeting Tom’s sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer) who seems enamored with the good looking Irish lad. A little later we meet the wealthy Hewett parents (quietly and perfectly played by Brian Cox and Penelope Wilton). Then Chris begins flirting with a very sexy young woman while playing ping-pong—things begin to heat up until it turns out Chris has been flirting with Tom’s sexy American fiance’ Nola Rice—an aspiring actress (well played by Scarlett Johansson).

Emily suggest that Chris might find working for Daddy’s company much more lucrative than giving tennis lessons. Reluctantly Chris agrees to take a job within the Hewett company as what appears to be a financial advisor. But despite the relationship with Emily that is passionate and leading quickly toward marriage which will mean Chris is part of a very wealthy family that seems to like him—he can’t stop playing around in very dangerous fashion with Nola Rice. He takes more and more daring chances with Tom’s fiance’ and then suddenly shortly after Chris and Emily marry, Nola and Tom break-up and Nola goes back to Colorado.

But there is much more that will happen. Eventually some serious complications develop that will lead to a very dark somewhat unexpected twist. Can Chris control his libido and passions or does he believe he can get away with it. He insists that life is about being lucky and seems to have little faith or religious beliefs. Can he live an amoral life?

When serious complications arrive, can Chris continue to be clever enough to keep things under control or will he destroy his marriage and ruin his very promising career and association with the very wealthy Hewett family?

During the last half hour of the film, the tension builds quickly and you may find yourself at the edge of your seat wondering just what is going to happen. And just when you believe you know what is going to happen, the rug is pulled out from under your feet.

I was a bit surprised to learn that Allen originally wrote the script to be filmed in New York, but then shifted the setting to London when financing from the BBC was possible. There’s a very authentic feel to how people talk and the places Allen shoots at, including the Tate Modern Museum and a breathtaking condo overlooking the Thames, the posh English mansion and the smaller apartments Chris and Nola live in (although Nola’s apartment seems decked out with far too many books for a struggling actresses’ flat). There’s no Jewish characters, no Rabbi and the one show-offy dream/fantasy sequence is more Eugene O’Neil than revisted Greek chorus (the scene where ‘ghosts’ visit Chris in his kitchen toward the end of the film).

Allen doesn’t go for an easy laugh or try too hard toward Bergmanesque modern tragedy. He gives us selfish, amoral, spoiled characters who are vain and headstrong and not easy to like. We wind up developing empathy for some of them but that allows the film to trick us and weave a new web around us to keep us fascinated and interested. Who would have thought Woody Allen could be such a complex story-teller without Jewish humor, without being overly gimmicky, and outside of New York?

If you have an aversion to slow building talky dramas with often prim and proper characters who are snobbish and overly judgemental , than a great deal of this film will drive you crackers. For most however, the pretenses of the characters are part of the fascinating appeal. We don’t truly get to know these people of course, they are seen mostly through the eyes of our guide Chris Wilton, who is on a search to better himself and find meaning in life even though he’s not sure what he believes in. Lust or love or some combination thereof seems to be important, but when he gets used to the rich lifestyle perhaps more should be considered.

Match Point is a superb film and you truly won’t believe it’s by Woody Allen. Bravo.

Note: Scarlet Johanssen will be in Woody’s next film which is currently called SCOOP and is set in London.

• If you like Match Point I strongly recommend you rent the excellent 1968 Claude Chabrol film: The Unfaithful Wife aka La Femme Infidel which was re-made into 2002’s Unfaithful. Review is here:

http://www.epinions.com/content_114710974084




Recommended: Yes