3 Film Excess nominations:
Best Screenplay: Robert Harris, Roman Polanski (lost to Christopher Nolan for Inception)
Best Music: Alexandre Desplat (lost to Treme S1)
Best Production Design: Albert Konrad (lost to Boardwalk Empire S1)
+ Best Thriller of the Year
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| A poster for Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer |
The Ghost Writer is based on a novel by Robert Harris (Enigma (2001)), and its script was co-written by Harris and the writer-director, great Polish-French Roman Polanski (Chinatown (1974)).
The story revolves around the unnamed protagonist, who is a ghost writer, - a writer who pens memoirs for the rich and famous without being publicly acknowledged, - as he gets his biggest assignment yet: The memoir of the British ex-PM Adam Lang. Meeting with Lang, his subject, on a hostile little American island, the writer learns that his predecessor died, and that a foul secret lies behind the persona he is employed to portray with 'heart'.
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| Ewan McGregor in Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer |
Ghost is a very smart film; it is inspired by British ex-PM Tony Blair and his relations to the American Bush administration, but it never becomes an angry political movie as such. More so, Ghost Writer is like a detective story, with the writer as the detective.
Ewan McGregor (The Impossible (2012)) proves perfect in the role, (which had previously been cast with Nicholas Cage, who wouldn't have fit it nearly as well), and we never really question his primary decision to take on the job. In several other parts, Ghost flashes its impressive, perfect cast: In substantial supporting roles, Pierce Brosnan (Love's All You Need (2012)) is the perfect Lang; Olivia Williams (Rushmore (1998)) exudes intelligence and danger as Mrs. Lang, and Kim Cattrall (Big Trouble in Little China (1986)) is a believable assistant-mistress; I wish I saw her in more good parts like this one, which she can obviously pull off. In minor parts, Ghost also holds several gems; Eli Wallach (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)) has a delightful little scene; Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People (1980)) can be seen in a very small part; American comedian James Belushi (Red Heat (1988)) goes bald as an editorial executive, and is hilarious; and finally Tom Wilkinson (The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)) is grand as a viper-like distinguished professor.
The Ghost Writer is a marvelous thriller from master-director Polanski; with a perfect, dark, disillusioned Polanski-type ending and numerous turns and delicious ingredients along the way.
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| Roman Polanski directs Pierce Brosnan in The Ghost Writer |
Ghost also holds a masterful thriller score by Alexandre Desplat (The King's Speech (2010)), brilliantly elegant photography and very intelligent set design with many very nice touches, by Albrecht Konrad (When Pigs Have Wings (2011)); the central house is a very unnatural, unpleasant, cold, modern environment, which subtly speaks volumes about its inhabitants.
Much can be read out of most of auteur-director Polanski's movies. In this case, the lesson might be that life is a struggle, and that truth gets lost along the way.
Polanski, for better or worse, seems to invite an autobiographical reading of his works, as parts of his extraordinary life seems to correlate with some of his movies: Losing his mother to Auschwitz in WWII, (and seeing his father and sister marched off to camps as well, (which they survived)), - witnessing the horrors of the war and being a child Jew in the Krakow ghetto, Polanski's first films, shorts like Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958) and his first feature Knife in the Water (1962) shows flair for and, a mind bend on, the absurd. Later in life, Polanski made a strong film about WWII, The Pianist (2002). Following Polanski's mainstream breakthrough in America with Rosemary's Baby (1968), a film about a woman who gets impregnated by the devil, Polanski's real-life pregnant wife Sharon Tate was murdered along with four other victims in Hollywood by members of the evil Manson family. Polanski was in London. In 1978, Polanski fled America after pleading guilty to having had sex with a 13 year-old girl. Post-production of Ghost was put on hold when Polanski was arrested by Swiss police in 2009 due to the 30 year-old case; Polanski finished Ghost, - which involved PM Lang, a fugitive from justice himself, - from house arrest in Switzerland.
Though much can be said and written of all the controversies in Polanski's life, often autobiographical readings don't hold up under scrutiny, as is also the case here; Polanski has made many other films that do not have overt connections to his own life, and even the ones that seem to have such are arguable. The myth is merely a man, in other words, but a very fascinating one at that.
His most recent film stars Emmanuelle Seigner and Matheiu Amalric, is about film-making and is entitled Venus in Fur.
Related posts:
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
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| Olivia Williams in Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer |
Watch the trailer for the film here
Budget: 45 mil. $
Box office: 60.2 mil. $
= Lukewarm commercial reception
What do you think of The Ghost Writer?
Any comments about Roman Polanski are welcomed
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