Laure Eve, 02/06/2007
From the opening melodic notes of Philip Glass's score to the end credits, this is what the cliched would term 'a perfect gem' of a film.
Low key and subtle in its storytelling, playing out like a carefully nuanced crime tale with a twist; a red herring here, a fleeting clue there. I'm not usually the one to work out twists before they actually happen, but the 'twist' in question was fairly obvious, even to me. This, however, did not detract at all from the rest of the film; rather allowed me to enjoy what was unfolding, looking for other background wisps and details rather than concentrating on trying to work out the central trick. Not as if they were trying to hide it, anyway; the clue is in the title, after all.
One of those unhappy few who haven't been bewitched by the supposed magic of Edward Norton before, in this i found him entirely engaging; carefully mysterious, but not so much that he wasn't real to the audience. Jessica Biel, about whom i knew almost nothing, was a pleasure; demure, poised and yet passionate underneath (the perfect Victorian gentlewoman, in other words). And Paul Giamatti, whom i regard as some sort of character actor god, was of course nothing less than excellent. A policeman stuck between a rock and a hard place; not entirely moral, not entirely a hideous flatfoot. Rufus Sewell was wonderful as always. A much underrated actor, he gets called on by Hollywood to play the bad guy more often than not; but this bad guy had a humanity to him that actually touched me toward the end.
Any resemblance to a certain other similarly themed film that came out not long before is mostly fictional; the only thing they share is the period setting.
Of the two, this was much more melodic, much quieter, more satisfying. It pretended to be nothing other than it was; a good story, well told, beautifully played.
And buy the score; Philip Glass is genius.
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