Match Point
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| Match Point | |
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| Directed by | Woody Allen |
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| Produced by | Letty Aronson, Gareth Wiley & Lucy Darwin |
| Written by | Woody Allen |
| Starring | Jonathan Rhys Meyers Scarlett Johansson Emily Mortimer Matthew Goode Brian Cox Penelope Wilton Ewen Bremner James Nesbitt Rupert Penry-Jones |
| Cinematography | Remi Adefarasin |
| Editing by | Alisa Lepselter |
| Studio | BBC Films and Thema Production SA presents, A Jada Production |
| Distributed by | - USA - DreamWorks - UK/Australia - Icon Productions (theatrical) Warner Home Video (DVD) - Germany - Prokino Filmverleih (theatrical) Paramount Home Entertainment (DVD) |
| Release date(s) | 12 May 2005 (Cannes) |
| Running time | 124 min. |
| Language | English |
Match Point (2005) is a dramatic thriller film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox and Penelope Wilton.
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[edit] Synopsis
When tennis pro Chris Wilton begins a relationship with shy heiress Chloe Hewett after befriending her brother Tom, he finds his social and financial status vastly improved. However, once he has an affair with Tom's ex-lover, American actress Nola Rice, he realizes that his new, luxurious lifestyle may be threatened. So Chris formulates a devious plan to rid himself of his inconvenient mistress.
[edit] Plot summary
Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a recently retired tennis pro, takes up a job as a tennis instructor at an upmarket London club. Here he meets Tom Hewett with whom he strikes up a close friendship. Tom's younger sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer) is smitten by Chris and the two start dating. During a family gathering, Chris meets Nola Rice (Scarlett Johanssen) who happens to be Tom's fiancé. Tom's mother Eleanor is not very approving of Nola who is a struggling actress; however, Eleanor does not mind that Chloe is with Chris. Chloe gets Chris a job as an executive in one of her Dad's companies and expresses a desire to marry him. Chris is strangely attracted to Nola and in a careless moment, they make love. Nola however tells Chris that there is no use pursuing this relationship and Chris agrees to marrying Chloe. Chloe insists on having children. Some days later, Chris learns that Tom broke up with Nola and she has left to America.
Chris and Chloe are unable to have children and Chris is turning into a workaholic. Tom marries his girlfriend apparently because she is pregnant. That also seems to be the reason for his and Nola's break-up. Some days later, Chris sees Nola at the Tate Modern where he is supposed to meet Chloe. He tracks her down and asks for her number. The two of them start having an affair. Once, at a family vacation, Nola calls Chris to inform him that she is pregnant. Chris is shocked and asks her to be reasonable and get an abortion. She declines saying that she has had an abortion twice before and that she wants to raise the child with him. Chris's strange behavior makes Chloe suspect that he is having an affair but Chris convinces her that he is not. Nola urges Chris to divorce Chloe. Chris is caught in a fix and finds himself lying to Chloe as well as Nola. In a fit of rage, Nola reaches Chris's apartment but Chris calms her in the nick of time. Finally, one day he calls Nola to tell her that he has good news for her.
Chris steals a shotgun from his father-in-law's place and carries it to his office in a tennis bag. After leaving his office, Chris goes to Nola's place and enters the apartment of Mrs. Eastby, Nola's neighbor, on the pretext of checking her TV reception. He shoots her and ruffles her apartment as a burglar would. He takes some jewelery and drugs, which he puts in in his tennis bag. As Nola reaches her apartment, Chris shoots her too after saying that he is sorry. He then takes a cab to the theater to watch a musical with Chloe. Police investigate the crime scene and reach the conclusion that it was a drug robbery.
The following day, the murder is in the news and the Hewett family is shocked while Chris feigns surprise. Chris, on his next trip to his father-in-law's place, replaces the shotgun. Chloe and Chris announce to the Hewetts that Chloe is pregnant. At the same time, Chris gets a call from Detective Mike Banner and is called in for regular questioning in relation to the Eastby-Rice murder. Before the questioning, Chris dumps Mrs. Eastby's jewelery and drugs into the river, but her ring falls on the sidewalk unknown to Chris. On reaching there, Banner informs Chris, who claims to have known Nola only socially, that Nola kept a diary and that he is all over it. Chris confesses his affair to Banner but denies any link to the murder.
Chris's guilt leads him to see Nola and Mrs. Eastby who tell him to be ready for the consequences of his actions. At the same time, Banner suddenly figures out that how Chris would be the murderer. His theory is, however, discredited by his colleague who informs him that a drug peddler who was found murdered on the streets had Eastby's ring in his pocket. The film ends with Chloe having a baby boy who is named Terrence and his uncle blessing him with luck rather than goodness.
[edit] Cast
- Brian Cox as Alec Hewett
- Matthew Goode as Tom Hewett
- Scarlett Johansson as Nola Rice
- Emily Mortimer as Chloe Hewett Wilton
- Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Chris Wilton
- Penelope Wilton as Eleanor Hewett
- Ewen Bremner as Inspector Dowd
- James Nesbitt as Detective Banner
- Margaret Tyzack as Nicole Eastby
- Simon Kunz as Rod Carver
- Morne Botes as Michael
- Rupert Penry-Jones as Henry
- Rose Keegan as Carol
- Eddie Marsan as Reeves
- Miranda Raison as Heather
- Zoe Telford as Samantha
- Alexander Armstrong as Mr. Townsend
[edit] Reception
Known for not being content with his work, Allen has claimed that Match Point "arguably may be the best film that I've made. This is strictly accidental, it just happened to come out right. You know, I try to make them all good, but some come out and some don't. With this one everything seemed to come out right. The actors fell in, the photography fell in and the story clicked. I caught a lot of breaks."[1]
[edit] Critical response
The film received generally strong reviews from critics. As of January 21, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film received 77 percent positive reviews, based on 191 reviews.[2] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 72 out of 100, based on 40 reviews.[3] On IMDb, it has a score of 7.8 out of 10. Match Point has also been the object of scholarship. Joseph Henry Vogel argues the film is exemplary of ecocriticism as an economic school of thought.[4]
[edit] Box office
Match Point broke a long streak of box office flops for Allen, with a worldwide gross of $85,306,374 to 5 October, 2006 comprising $23,151,529 in its domestic[clarification needed] run and $62,146,742 abroad, according to Box Office Mojo.[5]
[edit] Style and Influences
Match Point is essentially a pessimistic fable about the importance of luck over virtue. The film begins with a static shot of a tennis court, with a ball suspended just above the net, while Chris, off camera, recites the following monologue:
The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't and you lose.
The story has a lot in common with Allen's previous work Crimes and Misdemeanors, which itself was inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic novel Crime and Punishment. As with those particular works, Match Point is undercut by a certain dark nihilism; main character Chris Wilton's plan to kill his lover is flawed at best; however, because of a crucial piece of luck he succeeds in evading suspicion.
The narrative borrows heavily from Stendhal's classic The Red and the Black, as well as Theodore Dreiser's renowned crime novel An American Tragedy. However, whereas the protagonist of the latter story was punished for his heinous crimes, Chris escapes justice and remains unrepentant, thus emphasising the aforementioned nihilism.
Meanwhile, the idea of a tennis star discovering the importance of luck is taken directly from W. Somerset Maugham's short story "The Facts of Life".
[edit] Production
The film's backdrop includes well-known London locations such as the Tate Modern, Norman Foster's "Gherkin", Richard Rogers' Lloyd's building, the Royal Opera House, the Palace of Westminster, Blackfriars Bridge and Cambridge Circus. One of the University of Westminster's Marylebone campus lecture theatres was also used. UK-based graffiti artist Banksy's "girl with balloon" appears briefly in the film.
[edit] Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack consists almost entirely of pre-World War I 78 rpm recordings of opera arias sung by Italian tenor Enrico Caruso.
Opera connoisseurs have noted that the arias and opera extracts make an ironic commentary on the actions of the characters and sometimes foreshadow developments in the movie's narrative.[6][citation needed] The Caruso arias are intercut with extracts from contemporary performances which the characters attend over the course of the film. There are scenes at the Royal Opera House and elsewhere performed by opera singers ("La Traviata" performed by Janis Kelly and Alan Oke, "Rigoletto" performed by Mary Hegarty), accompanied by a piano (performed by Tim Lole) and not, as is usual, by an orchestra (for saving money).
Arias and extracts include work by Verdi (in particular Macbeth, La Traviata, Il Trovatore and Rigoletto), Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles, Carlos Gomes' Salvatore Rosa sung by Caruso. The romanza Una furtiva lagrima from L'elisir d'amore is featured repeatedly, including during the opening credits.
Neighbour Mrs. Eastby (Margaret Tyzack) is listening to budget price Naxos CD "Operatic Duets for Tenor and Baritone" by Janez Lotrič & Igor Morozov (Gioachino Rossini's Guglielmo Tell from "Arresta", then Verdi' Otello from the murder scene "Desdemona") when she is shot by Chris.
A portion of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Woman in White is heard while Emily Mortimer is waiting for Jonathan Rhys Meyers at Palace Theatre.
The movie's trailer features the song "Postscript" by the Irish band Autamata, vocals by Carol Keogh, though this is not featured in the movie itself.
The following arias and songs from the soundtrack are available as MP3 downloads from the Internet Archive:
- "Una furtiva lagrima" by Enrico Caruso
- "Mal reggendo all'aspro assalto" by Enrico Caruso
- "Mi par d'udir ancora" by Enrico Caruso
- "Mia piccirella" by Enrico Caruso
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Theage.com article
- ^ "Match Point - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/match_point/. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
- ^ "Match Point (2005): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/matchpoint. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
- ^ "Ecocriticism as an Economic School of Thought: Woody Allen's Match Point as Exemplary" OMETECA Science and Humanities XII 2008 105-119 by Joseph Henry Vogel.
- ^ Box Office Mojo entry for Match Point
- ^ "Living Life as an Opera Lover: On the Uses of Opera as Musical Accompaniment in Woody Allen's Match Point" by Charalampos Goyios
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Match Point |
- Official website
- Match Point at Allmovie
- Official site
- Match Point at the Internet Movie Database
- Slant Magazine Film Review
- Good Small Films (Unofficial Woodypedia and blog)
