Woody Allen presents... a whole new kind of depressing film-making!

Rating: 8/10 (10 August 2008)

Woody Allen himself has said this is perhaps the best film he has ever made. And surely, this is one of Woody Allen's more notable films, a stand-out entry in his canon if only for the fact that it is so much darker than anything else he previously directed (save for possibly his best work, "Crimes and Misdemeanors"). The serious material and location also break the typical Woody Allen rhythm of bittersweet comedic romance in New York City. Instead, this film takes place amongst the elite upper classes of London (which Woody unfortunately does not have the background to explore or present with a local's expertise) and investigates social climbing, nepotist opportunism and impractical lustful obsession.
The plot involves a mild-mannered amateur tennis pro named Chris (played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who looks like a splicing of Joaquin Phoenix and Ewan MacGregor) who works his way into the London upper classes by kindling a friendship with one of his male clients. The same client has a fiancée, Nola Rice (Scarlett Johannsen) with whom Chris develops an unhealthy obsession. Scarlett Johannsen seems to be Woody's current eye-candy muse, the clumsily acting starlet of his recent movies. This is the first Allen movie to feature Scarlett, and while she's much better cast here than in almost any other film she's been in, she is still a mediocre actress.
The performances and dialog are all above average (again, save for Scarlett and the fact that I don't know what passes for quality English dialog, hee hee!) and the cinematography is clean and pristine. So are most of the locations actually, often bright, clean and spacious -- in vivid contrast to the nature of the plot. In fact, some of the interior locations of this movie are reminiscent of the futuristic, super-silly sets of Allen's early "Sleeper". The difference is that the sets here are create an ominous atmosphere (almost like a Poe story, sans the macabre decadence).
As a film this holds together really well, but is incredibly depressing and somewhat self-important. There are some surprises and twists left open to interpretation, but the open-ended nature of some portions of it make it depressingly realistic. As a drama and suspense piece it is one of the best for it's professional inspiration, painless pacing (despite the slow plot development) and manages to be one of Woody's more notable films.