The Reel Critic

Author: JUSTINE KATZENBACH

Perhaps the most seductive aspect of "Match Point" is that Woody Allen excludes himself from the picture. The absence of that high-pitched, screeching voice, nagging with idiosyncrasies, concerns and anxieties, is certainly a relief. The unlikely hero that Allen always chooses to play is, by definition, nonexistent in Allen's newest picture. In fact, in "Match Point," there seems to be no hero whatsoever, flawed or perfect, and this sheds a new, darker light on the tone of the film.

At the Cannes Film Festival last May, various reviewers happily and consistently made the same comment - that "Match Point" is "not a typical Woody Allen film." Allen is certainly capable of bringing innovative new concepts and ideas to film making. When critics made this comment, however, what they really meant to say was that "Match Point" is not a "typical" rendition of an Allen film. Not only is Allen removed physically from the action of the film, but no actor attempts to take his place. There is no character in "Match Point" who speaks with that mumbling, anxious tone, who is obsessed with sex or who speaks proudly and constantly of his Jewish heritage. All stereotypes that we relate with Woody Allen and his film-making are, quite thankfully, removed.

The film is unsettling to say the least. The dramatic Hitchcock-style shots create a loss of the time continuum. There is this general confusion of whether Scarlett Johansson is playing an American actress of the 1920s, glamorous and posh, or one of the present day. The traditional and disturbing shots are framed by a London backdrop - its beautiful, traditional buildings, in collaboration with its long history, only adds to the sensation of timelessness that the movie offers.

The individual characters also add to the film's ageless manner, in part because they each embody an extremist, personality that is type-cast to suit them. When poor, Irish, ex-tennis pro Chris (Jonathon Rhys Meyers) meets the rich and extravagant Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) during a tennis lesson at the exclusive club where Chris works, Tom immediately befriends him. Sharing a love of opera, Tom invites Chris to a performance with his very wealthy parents and younger sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). Chloe immediately falls in love with Chris. Consequently, the family initiates a "grooming" program in order to fashion Chris into the man that they would have their daughter marry - well-dressed, well-mannered and well-worked. Chloe's father hires him to work at his business.

It is when Chris meets Nola (Johansson), a sexy and attractive American actress who is engaged to Tom, that things get complicated. Chris is a man who longs deeply to be welcomed by Nola's elitist family, the Hewetts, and who will happily morph into the person they wish him to be. Nola, on the other hand, creates an interesting dichotomy as she opposes all urges of conformity. These simple character differences ultimately cause the downfall of both Chris and Nola as they fall into a dire love triangle that cannot be treated or fixed in any simple manner.

The stubbornness of both Chris and Nola, and the extremist and almost stereotypical personalities that each character embodies creates a provocatively interesting film that reveals the haunting nature of guilt. Immorality shapes the entire arch of the film, but how this appears on a thematic level is most interesting. The pessimistic standpoint which Allen assumes leaves the audience feeling perplexed and disturbed, for when the people who should be punished are set free, it disturbs his moral landscape. However, as Chris once explains to Nola, he'd "rather be lucky than good," the film comments on the everlasting effect of guilt - even as lucky as one can be, guilt will stalk forever, ever-present, infinitely preying.