Complex thriller plot beautifully realised

Rating: 8/10 (3 February 2006)

A lot of critics call this "noir", and it's certainly morally murky, but "noir", of course, isn't French and this film is. It's a homage to Chabrol, cynical, playful and assured. Unlike the Hollywood "noir", of Fritz Lang and others in the 40s and 50s, it is shot in lovely edible colour, (which makes London look gorgeous), and the dialogue (perfect 'British' English by Allen himself, except for one "gotten") and acting are naturalistic rather than stylised. The other comparison that comes to mind, apart from Allen's own - "Crimes and Misdemeanours", is Hitchcock, and look how the French new wave directors admired and emulated him. If you expect an Allen comedy, this is far from typical. There are few verbal gags, but there is humour in the plotting, what you might call 'life-jokes', enhanced by the lightning narrative of the first section of the film, which sets up the moral problem at its centre: a problem for the central character, Chris. He has to choose between social and economic security on the one hand and lust and commitment to his pregnant mistress on the other. He is venal, weak, a chameleon trading on charm and looks to make his way. His wife is a little foolish and desperate to get pregnant, but his privileged lifestyle, job and social acceptance are tied to her. His mistress is a hot cookie, but now that she is pregnant, and seems to expect him to dump wife, success and all, she has become a millstone. Scarlett Johannson never looks like a millstone, she looks terrific and her performance stands out because she is playing the alien in this very British social setting, but Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Chris) and all the supporting cast are equally good. How Chris will solve his problem is the puzzle for us. For me, the only fault this film has is that the tension of this puzzle is stretched too long, particularly considering the speed of the earlier part. The rushing stream seems to have run into a pond, but it does find its way out again, and it's a cracking climax, full of twists and false trails, with a conclusion that ties everything into an agonising knot.