Jan Marshall – Author of A Curious State of Affairs (available in the UK & USA) talks about an enthralling and well crafted five star film: Match Point

 

I lead a busy life and so don’t always have the time to see films when they are first released. Add to this an immense dislike of being in a cinema audience (inconsiderate people using their mobiles during the film, tapping the back of your seat with their feet, munching popcorn and rattling sweet papers) and the upshot is, I will often wait until a movie has been released on DVD, or is on the television before watching it (in the comfort of my own home). For these reasons, it was only last night that I got to see Match Point (2005) written and directed by my all time favourite talented man: Woody Allen.

Now if you’ve read my novel, or know me personally – you will be aware that I am a life long fan of Woody BUT having said that I want to assure you that my opinion of this film is unbiased by my admiration for this multi-talented man. This film is BRILLIANT. It is superb – and if you’ve got a chance, see it. I cannot recommend it enough. My husband indulges my adoration of Woody and has on occasions been long suffering when he’s sat through one or two of the less successful Woody Allen films without complaint. However this time, he couldn’t take his eyes of the screen and afterwards delivered the opinion that it was “bloody brilliant!” Praise indeed coming from him, since a film isn’t usually worth watching unless something is being blown up or there are gruesome goings on, every few minutes.

Anyway, Match Point is a polished and powerful, disturbing and clever drama with morality and fidelity at its heart. It is set in London (UK) and there is no trace of Jewish dialogue or quirky humour; instead, this masterpiece focuses on the important part luck plays in life.

The story is about a former tennis pro Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who is a would be social climber. He meets a rich kid Tom Hewitt (Matthew Goode) leading a charmed life. Their forming friendship exposes upper class English society, warts and all, as Chris ingratiates himself with his newly found friend’s family and inner circle. Chris is ambitious, good looking and believable – yet underneath the facade he is nothing more than sympathetic slime. His relationship with Tom’s sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer) and the femme fatale Nola (Scarlett Johansson) who is the author of his ultimate moral downfall,  exposes the relationship between romantic love and violent narcissism. Chris becomes addicted to the material benefits and kudos that money can provide, and we the audience suffer a moral dilemma as we are torn between the sheer horror of Chris’s violent acts and our own curious desire to see him get away with them, in the final denouement.

I can’t review the film without mentioning opera – since there is a thread of opera that runs though it. The main characters are opera lovers – that is to say they enjoy occupying an opera box where they can view the performance from a lofty height, towering over the lowly people in the stalls below. They sip champagne, lack concentration and are easily distracted from the music. I feel this is symbolic in several ways: it indicates the way the upper class folk who heirs can look down on and feel superior to the ordinary masses who must live humbly from what they alone can earn in a life time. It says much about them as people.  

Chris joins his new friends to listen to a performance of Verdi’s La Traviata (literally The Woman Who Strayed, or perhaps more figuratively, The Fallen One), and also Rigoletto (The hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto is deeply bitter about his own deformity. When the jester, overcome by jealousy finally goes too far, he provokes a curse from his victim, with his innocent daughter paying the final price). You cannot help realise that Chris is being compared to Rigoletto and is the fallen one - although Chris is different because he is from a working class Irish background, rather than because he is deformed physically. His downfall is caused by a similar envy of the upper class, and the innocent blood of his own unborn child is spilled in the process (as well as the blood of others) exposing Chris as deformed mentally and morally. There is nothing casual or by chance about the inclusion of the specific operas – they are judiciously chosen to illustrate the point, as you would expect from the maestro himself.

The whole film pivots on the luck of a single moment in time. So few of us realise that whatever the intelligence, or training or skill – luck still plays a part in success; being in the right place at the right time is all important.

“There are moments in a (tennis) match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can go either way. With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn’t and you lose.”

One can’t help thinking of moments in your own life when luck has played it’s hand (or not) – and certainly in Woody’s life. If Mia Farrow had not found the photographs of her adopted daughter ….

We can all think of events when luck played a part – or didn’t! When a dear friend of mine was killed in a car crash, I thought a thousand times over that if he had left the house just a moment later he would have not met that young un-insured driver (with no driving licence and a skin full of alcohol) head on, swerved to avoid him and hit a tree.

Chris says: “I’d rather be lucky than good.”

Me? I’d rather be good than lucky – although I’m only human so given the option, I’d rather be good and lucky!

Match Point lets us glimpse into the world of the spoilt young socialites who ride of the back of future inheritance. It shows how obsession can lead to temptation and corruption. It reminds us of the important part that luck plays in our lives, whether we want to believe it or not. It is an equal to my all time favourite Woody Allen film: Crimes and Misdemeanors- and is so worth seeing. It is five star!

Watch a trailer of Match Point here.