A bit of a departure for Woody Allen, and it's a great one

Rating: 10/10 (27 March 2016)

A bit of a departure for Woody Allen, and it's a great one.
A young, working-class coach at a prestigious tennis club, Chris Wilton (played by Jonathan Rhys Myers), forms a relationship with Chloe Hewett (Emily Mortimer), the sister of Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), one of the members at the club. The Hewetts are very wealthy - their father owns a large company - and the relationship with Chloe should be Chris' ticket to the easy life.
However, he meets Tom's American fiancé, Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson), and is immediately smitten. Due to Nola being engaged to Tom, nothing really happens and Chris marries Chloe. Then Tom and Nola break off their engagement and Chris starts a relationship with Nola, with disastrous consequences...
A rare murder-drama from Woody Allen. His first of the genre and certainly his darkest movie. Quite a departure for him: while most renowned as a comedy writer-director, even his dramas of the past had a lightness to them. This is nothing like anything he has made before, or since, and is fantastic.
Great plot. A slow-burner that starts as a harmless relationship drama and gets darker and deadlier the further it goes. This is not to say that it is dull to start off: even before it ramps up it is a great character study.
Some excellent twists towards the end with a superb ending. Quite profound too.
Solid performances all round. Nobody puts a foot wrong. Emily Mortimer is a tad irritating as the mousy, clingy Chloe, but that is probably intentional on Woody Allen's part.