Taglines: Passion Temptation Obsession.
From a humble background and with traditional values, Irish Chris Wilton is still struggling financially despite being a recently retired high ranked tennis pro. He has taken a job as a tennis instructor at an upscale London tennis club, although he knows there is a better life for him somewhere down the road. He is befriended by one of his students, wealthy Tom Hewett.
Chris starts to date Tom’s sister, Chloe Hewett, a girl-next-door type who is immediately attracted to Chris. Chloe quickly knows she wants to marry Chris, and through her businessman father, Alec Hewett, tries to help Chris and their future by getting him an executive job in Alec’s company. In his life with the Hewetts, Chris begins to enjoy the finer things in life.
Through it all however, Chris cannot help thinking about Nola Rice, a struggling American actress who he meets at the Hewett estate and who is Tom’s unofficial fiancée. Nola is vivacious, and she knows the effect she has on men, including Chris. Unlike Chris, Nola is not accepted by Tom and Chloe’s mother, the outspoken Eleanor Hewett. Chris has to decide if he can give up what he has been able to achieve with Chloe and the Hewetts, or if the passion he feels for Nola is stronger than the finer things in life to which he is now accustomed. He may go to any length to have his cake and eat it too.
Match Point is a 2005 British-Luxembourgish psychological thriller film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox, and Penelope Wilton. In the film, Rhys Meyers’s character marries into a wealthy family, but his social position is threatened by his affair with his brother-in-law’s girlfriend, played by Johansson.
The film treats themes of morality, greed, and the roles of lust, money, and luck in life, leading many to compare it to Allen’s earlier film Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). It was produced and filmed in London after Allen had difficulty finding financial support for the film in New York. The agreement obliged him to make it there using a cast and crew mostly from the United Kingdom. Allen quickly re-wrote the script, which was originally set in New York, for a British setting.
Critics in the United States praised the film and its British setting, and welcomed it as a return to form for Allen. In contrast, reviewers from the United Kingdom treated Match Point less favourably, finding fault with the locations and especially the idiom of the dialogue. Allen was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
The script was originally set in The Hamptons, a wealthy enclave in New York, but was transferred to London when Allen found financing for the film there. The film was partly funded by BBC Films, which required that he make the film in the UK with largely local cast and crew. In an interview with The Guardian, Allen explained that he was allowed “the same kind of creative liberal attitude that I’m used to”, in London.
He complained that the American studio system was not interested in making small films — “They only want these $100 million pictures that make $500m.” A further change was required when Kate Winslet, who was supposed to play the part of Nola Rice, resigned a week before filming was scheduled to begin. Scarlett Johansson was offered the part, and accepted, but the character had to be re-written as an American. According to Allen, “It was not a problem…It took about an hour.”
Filming took place in London in the summer of 2004 over a seven-week schedule. Some of the city’s landmarks, such as Tate Modern, Norman Foster’s “Gherkin” building at 30 St Mary Axe, Richard Rogers’ Lloyd’s building, the Royal Opera House, the Palace of Westminster, Blackfriars Bridge, and Cambridge Circus form a backdrop to the film.
The tennis club scenes were filmed at the Queen’s Club. One of the University of Westminster’s Marylebone campus lecture theatres was also used. UK-based graffiti artist Banksy’s Girl With Balloon appears briefly in the film. One of the Parliament View apartments at Lambeth Bridge was used for interiors of Chris and Chloe’s apartment. The restaurant scene was shot at the Covent Garden Hotel.
Match Point (2005)
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Brian Cox, Emily Mortimer, Alexander Armstrong, Morne Botes, Rose Keegan, Miranda Raison, Penelope Wilton
Screenplay by: Woody Allen
Production Design by: Jim Clay
Cinematography by: Remi Adefarasin
Film Editing by: Alisa Lepselter
Costume Design by: Jill Taylor
Set Decoration by: Caroline Smith
Art Direction by: Diane Dancklefsen, Jan Spoczynski
MPAA Rating: R for sexuality.
Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date: January 20, 2006
Visits: 49
