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No offense, but you and tinear apparently just missed a lot of what was going on in the film.

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on February 3, 2006 at 10:58:06

In Reply to: FWIW here's what I didn't like. posted by sjb on February 2, 2006 at 22:12:04:

>>> "I never believed for a momet that Rhys' character cared for the sister and he didn't do or show anything - on screen - to have made anyone in that family believe it either. Also he had more chemistry with the brother than he did with either Scarlett or the sister (come to think of it he also had more chemistry with his tennis buddy than he did with either of them)." <<<

You guys apparently missed the subtle societal push & pull entirely. A lot of what was going on had to do with image and being groomed. Face it, the daughter was just average looking, a fact not lost on the family or overlooked by Rhys as the strategies developed. Her brother wasn't especially a handsome bloke either, but the family's position in society and their financial power base centered around male heirs, so the father and mother were intent upon the son marrying according to his status and the daughter being married to someone who wouldn't bring disgrace upon the family name.

The whole idea of bringing the tennis instructor into the family firm and grooming him for future business success was classic old world class structure. The average looking daughter would thus be married off to someone of good stock who had no other family ties, even if that good stock had to be manufactured in order to maintain the upper class family's social standing. In that way future generations of family wealth would be maintained.

The son's interest in the American actress (Scarlett) was perceived as a threat to the family's wealth and prestige, especially by the mother, and she was never accepted as a serious candidate for courtship by the family. Rhy's interests in the actress were not so much indiscrete, as considered inconsequential, overlooked by a family who believed that grooming Rhy's for introduction into proper society took precedence over all else once his commitment to the daughter was established.

>>> "For a family so tuned to potential social climbers and so concerned with the happiness of their daughter/sister they sure let a very suspicious acting non caring person into hers and their lives (and made him rich to boot -- and allowed him to be as careless as he wanted to be at work and with his money)." <<<

Again, they (especially the matriarch of the family) weren't nearly as concerned about the daughter's happiness as maintaining their family dynasty and social standing. Rhy's made the best of this environment and proved competent enough in business to satisfy the ambitions set by his new family.

>>> "Also, there were so many clues to the double life he was leading and he was so poor at hiding that there was a bunch of secret stuff going on that it was totally unbelievable to me (preposterous might be a better word) that no one seriously called him on it. It required a level of suspension of disbelief - too high for me - to think it reasonable that nobody in that family was suspiscious of him." <<<

Suspicion would've meant not only questioning his integrity, but their own as the family had become committed to bringing Rhy's into their family. His liasons with Scarlett's character were easily mistaken as work related overachieving, the idea being that from the parent's standpoint it would be inconceivable for Rhy's character to squander the opportunity he'd been provided.

>>> "And that scene with Scarlett and Rhys in the bar. That's when people were laughing. I wasn't sure if the dialogiue or acting or lack of chemistry was worse but all toghether it made for another preposterous scene (IMO, of course).

The seven or eight scenes of her yelling at him because he hadn't told his wife yet were often just as bad (acting and script wise) and I really felt like it revealed a limit to Scarlett's range but I'm willing ot give her the benefit of the doubt and say it revealed a weakness in the script and directing." <<<

WOW! You must've been watching a different movie or at least had a different film going on in your head while watching this one! I thought that those scenes were entirely C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E. Maybe Scarlett's acting range was supposed to appear limited; after all she couldn't seem to land any long-term acting jobs while auditioning in London. ;^)

>>> "Lots of convenient cuts too to get out of sticky situations... for instance, skipping showing the awkwardness of he and Scarlett coming back into the house soaking wet and clearly having just done the deed (and we're supposed to believe this went off without a hitch in a house where a. her fiance went to look for her and b. the next couple of times Rhys disapeared for a little while - to deal with the gun - his wife couldnt go more than a couple of minutes without looking for him... and that's when Scarlett WASN'T around)." <<<

Again, it's British society which is more suspicious of class motivations than obvious sexual indiscretion. BTW, it's not so much a "house" as a very large estate; it isn't difficult imagining Rhy's and Scarlett disappearing for a period in such a setting. As for the gun scenario, the sustained suspense was very Hitchcockian, the audience anticipating the possibility of Rhy's character getting caught at any point along the way, but knowing that once actions are set in motion it's just a matter of fate leaning one way or the other.

>>> "The two cops were great." <<<

Apparently, the one thing we can agree on regarding this particular film! James Nesbitt, the lead detective in Match Point, is the star of Murphy's Law which is an excellent BBC crime drama (airs sporadically on BBC America's Monday Mysteries); highly recommended! :o)

Cheers,
AuPh

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