Roman Polanski, whatever his own private troubles, proves once again that he is a great filmmaker able to handle even something as insubstantial as Robert Harris’ political potboiler The Ghost and make a film that is intricately layered and resonant, giving added dimensions to its source material.
In this instance, the film, while notable mostly for its fine craftsmanship rather than any aspirations to great artistic heights, is arguably a more effective medium for Harris’ story about intrigue unwittingly unearthed by a writer working on a political memoir.
The unnamed ghostwriter, a fine mix of jaded hack and seasoned professional, is played by Ewan McGregor, who wonderfully conveys how much his character is a fish out of water when he is pulled out of his celebrity biography niche and plopped unceremoniously into the seductive and much more dangerous world of politics.
Other members of the cast are brilliantly deployed, not least Pierce Brosnan as former pro-US British prime minister Adam Lang, who stands charged with war crimes for abetting the rendition of terrorism suspects.
Brosnan effortlessly conjures up a thick layer of well-manicured charm, and unlike his usual suave onscreen persona, allows glimpses behind the scenes into an inner world filled with lies, or at least various half-truths and compromises that he can no longer distinguish from the political spin that has built up around them in his own mind.
Lang’s many similarities to former British prime minister Tony Blair, including his adept media skills, give this political thriller a topical aspect that Polanski allows to linger in the background without any explicit comment.
Another powerful performance comes from Olivia Williams as Ruth, Lang’s brainy but now embittered wife, who lurks in the background of her husband’s life and knows a lot more than she is letting on.
Set against her husband’s glossy facade, Ruth’s sinister presence is appealing; she helps generate a mood of unease and draws the coldness of the landscape surrounding the Martha’s Vineyard house where the action takes place into the hearts of those living there.
Polanski makes great use of big picture windows and an almost Brutalist interior to build up the atmosphere still further, and while nothing much seems to be happening, an impending sense of disaster is maintained from the get-go.
Kim Cattrall, Samantha from Sex and the City, is an unexpected presence as Amelia, Lang’s personal assistant and mistress, whose suave, efficient ways, neat black suites and moments of vulnerability contrast well against Ruth.
Sexual tension is a minor theme in The Ghost Writer, but it is deftly woven through the fabric of the story with cutting moments of dialogue.
As befits a film about a writer and a book, words are the main weapons of this thriller, which shuns car chases and guns for something more sinister: an omnipresent yet largely invisible threat of death to anyone who delves too deep into the past.
This sophisticated and low-key treatment is tremendously refreshing, and provides an excellent alternative
to Angelina Jolie’s Salt, which opened last week.
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