A furtive tear

Rating: 10/10 (19 February 2006)

As much as I have always appreciated Woody Allen comedies, I admit to liking more the dramas where he asks the tough questions. The brilliant "Match Point," like "Crimes and Misdemeanors" is one of those, and it's his best.
Loosely based on "A Place in the Sun," Allen's tough question is, "Would you rather be good or lucky?" "Is there such a thing as luck?" Many believe that people "make their own luck." But Allen's premise is that, when it's all over, luck plays a huge part in all of our lives. He uses the analogy of a tennis ball - when you serve a ball and it lands on the net, it can topple over to the other side, and you win, or fall on the same side, and you lose.
What a perfect analogy to tell the story of Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a former professional tennis player. He becomes the tennis teacher at a British club and meets Tom Hewett, a young man from a filthy rich family. Chris is embraced by Hewett's family and begins dating Tom's sister Chloe. Then he sees Tom's fiancé, Nola, played by Scarlett Johannson, and becomes obsessed with her.
This is an amazing film - absolutely nothing happens for a while, and yet everything happens. The story is punctuated with old, scratchy Caruso records and operatic selections from "Macbeth," "Otello," and others. We watch the characters living their lives, including their work, romantic entanglements, and marital problems. We watch them evolve, grow happy or unhappy, contented or restless, all leading up to the point where something does happen. When it does, it's ferocious. The ending will knock your socks off. It goes nowhere you think it's going. The film manages to keep you constantly off-balance and misinterpreting what you think you're seeing.
The last time I saw Jonathan Rhys Meyers, he was giving a marvelous portrayal of Elvis Presley, despite the fact that his height and frame are somewhat slighter than the King's. A beautiful young man, he has an interior dialogue going throughout the film. We don't hear it; we see it on his face. Scarlet Johannson is gorgeous and sexy as Nola, a cool blond in the Lana Turner tradition who is the object of his desire. Of all the characters in the film, her character goes through the most change, and she's very effective.
There are no easy answers to the questions Allen asks in "Crimes and Misdemeanors," "Stardust Memories," "Bullets over Broadway," and "Match Point." Allen leaves open what will happen emotionally as a result of the events of this film. But the verse of "Una Furtiva Lagrima," (A secret tear) played several times during the film despite a bad skip in the recording means "For just one moment the beating Of her hot pulse could be felt! With her sighing confounding Momentarily my sighs! Oh God, I shall expire; I can't ask for more." Significantly, it is heard at the beginning of the film and at the end.
Just remember - the record skips.