Match Point
One week ago Friday, I saw Woody Allen's film Match Point at Wells Hall. I had never seen a Woody Allen film before, and this one was every bit as thought-provoking as I had hoped.
Spoiler alert: Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a good-looking former pro tennis player who gets hired as an instructor at an exclusive London tennis club. Chris befriends his first student, Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), the son of a moneyed businessman. The two men share a love of opera, and Chris meets and falls in love with Tom's artistically minded sister, Chloe.
Tom's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hewett, welcome Chris into the family like a son and set him up in a lucrative job in which Chris excels. He and Chloe marry. Everything seems splendid. Then things fall apart.
Tom's girlfriend, Nola Rice (Scarlett Johannson), is a young, sultry American would-be actress who catches every man's eye, including Chris's. Yet, in contrast to Chris, Nola was not an acceptable spouse to Mr. and Mrs. Hewett. In a climactic scene, Nola runs out of the Hewetts' country house in tears during a rainstorm, Chris follows at a distance and overtakes her, and the two begin a torrid affair right then.
Here, Woody Allen taught me a disturbing lesson: It's easy for a married man to cheat on his wife and rationalize away the consequences. Leaving aside who Chris's partner was (I joked with my roommate, Cody, "I'd cheat on my wife if it could be with Scarlett Johansson"), Chris had two distinct moral choices. The first and simplest would have been to not initiate the affair at all. The second [after the affair has gone on for a few months and Nola tells Chris she is pregnant] would have been for Chris to admit he loved Nola more than his wife, divorce Chloe, accept the loss of Mr. Hewitt's patronage, and take responsibility for his child. Instead, Chris makes an immoral choice. I'll spare the gruesome details.
Woody Allen generates a lot of power from telling the movie from Chris's stream of consciousness. Even when I knew Chris was making monstrous choices, they don't seem so bad on the screen because Chris gets ever more proficient at lying to himself.
As a side note, the scene in which Nola tells Chris she will not abort their child is breathtaking. Having already aborted one pregnancy as a high-schooler and a second at Tom's demand, Nola says she darn well won't make the same mistake a third time. I could write another whole entry about that one scene.
Another interesting facet of Match Point is Woody Allen's use of opera throughout the film. In the beginning, it brings Tom and Chris together. Chris and Chloe's first date is a double-date at the opera with Tom and Nola, and his first gift to Chloe is an opera recording.
During Chris and Nola's affair, Chris still maintains the trappings of respectable married life, including going to the opera with Chloe - but the arias seem effete and neutered vis-a-vis Chris and Nola's steamy sexual encounters. It turns full circle at the end, though, when Chris hears arias from eminent composers Donizetti, Bizet, and Rossini as reminders of lost innocence and as condemnations of his hypocricy.
I highly recommend this film and will be watching more of Mr. Allen's films this summer.
Spoiler alert: Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a good-looking former pro tennis player who gets hired as an instructor at an exclusive London tennis club. Chris befriends his first student, Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), the son of a moneyed businessman. The two men share a love of opera, and Chris meets and falls in love with Tom's artistically minded sister, Chloe.
Tom's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hewett, welcome Chris into the family like a son and set him up in a lucrative job in which Chris excels. He and Chloe marry. Everything seems splendid. Then things fall apart.
Tom's girlfriend, Nola Rice (Scarlett Johannson), is a young, sultry American would-be actress who catches every man's eye, including Chris's. Yet, in contrast to Chris, Nola was not an acceptable spouse to Mr. and Mrs. Hewett. In a climactic scene, Nola runs out of the Hewetts' country house in tears during a rainstorm, Chris follows at a distance and overtakes her, and the two begin a torrid affair right then.
Here, Woody Allen taught me a disturbing lesson: It's easy for a married man to cheat on his wife and rationalize away the consequences. Leaving aside who Chris's partner was (I joked with my roommate, Cody, "I'd cheat on my wife if it could be with Scarlett Johansson"), Chris had two distinct moral choices. The first and simplest would have been to not initiate the affair at all. The second [after the affair has gone on for a few months and Nola tells Chris she is pregnant] would have been for Chris to admit he loved Nola more than his wife, divorce Chloe, accept the loss of Mr. Hewitt's patronage, and take responsibility for his child. Instead, Chris makes an immoral choice. I'll spare the gruesome details.
Woody Allen generates a lot of power from telling the movie from Chris's stream of consciousness. Even when I knew Chris was making monstrous choices, they don't seem so bad on the screen because Chris gets ever more proficient at lying to himself.
As a side note, the scene in which Nola tells Chris she will not abort their child is breathtaking. Having already aborted one pregnancy as a high-schooler and a second at Tom's demand, Nola says she darn well won't make the same mistake a third time. I could write another whole entry about that one scene.
Another interesting facet of Match Point is Woody Allen's use of opera throughout the film. In the beginning, it brings Tom and Chris together. Chris and Chloe's first date is a double-date at the opera with Tom and Nola, and his first gift to Chloe is an opera recording.
During Chris and Nola's affair, Chris still maintains the trappings of respectable married life, including going to the opera with Chloe - but the arias seem effete and neutered vis-a-vis Chris and Nola's steamy sexual encounters. It turns full circle at the end, though, when Chris hears arias from eminent composers Donizetti, Bizet, and Rossini as reminders of lost innocence and as condemnations of his hypocricy.
I highly recommend this film and will be watching more of Mr. Allen's films this summer.
posted by Jason at 11:28 AM
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