Birth and Death, Love and Lust envelop a London family

Rating: 9/10 (23 January 2006)

Matchpoint, the new Woody Allen film, deals with a group of Londoners who are, for the most part, well-to-do. We meet one on the tennis court as he takes a lesson from a former professional player. The teacher will become the protagonist of the story as he finds himself more and more immersed in his student's life and family.
From the outer edges of the story, we watch the tennis ball being struck back and forth--not expertly, but not amateurishly either. At one point the ball hits the top of the net, bounces straight up, and we hear the narrator say as the ball descends towards the net in slow motion, that if the ball comes back on our side, we lose and if it falls over the net we win.
Integral to the movie is opera. Not only is the soundtrack all opera, but both the student and the teacher discover that each loves opera and an extra ticket to that night's performance in the family box is made available to the teacher. He accepts--not with alacrity, as if he were seeking to intrude himself into the student's life--, but reluctantly as would we all after being asked to a box at the opera from someone of new acquaintance.
It is the love these characters have for each other--or the lust in some cases--that makes the movie interesting. It is the machinations that each of them uses to bring someone closer or drive someone away that grips you in the entanglements. It is the extremity of feeling, the complexity of motivation, the conflict of goals that makes you relate to the people, sympathize with them and want them to solve their problems well because, after all, they are you.
The story of the tennis teacher and the student unfolds in many layers. The student's sister falls in love with the pro. You meet the doting parents who want only the best for their children. You can't help liking the whole family as it lovingly tries to make life easier for everyone in its circle. Complications arise and therein is the crux of the story.
You never really get to know any of the characters very well. You know what's driving them each at any given moment and what they think they want to happen, but all is on the surface. Surface volatility abounds. Dialogue between lovers is almost banal in tone. Anger is expressed at the most elemental level. The characters don't seem to have any experience to draw upon--real or derived. What is happening to them is as if it's happening for the first time. Solutions that seem extreme to you or me seem the only possible way to go for them.
The tennis ball bounces into the air straight up from hitting the net. It comes down and someone wins and someone loses.