The Two Faces of January (film)

The Two Faces of January

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Hossein Amini
Produced by
Screenplay by Hossein Amini
Based on The Two Faces of January
by Patricia Highsmith
Starring
Music by Alberto Iglesias
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed by
Release dates
  • February 11, 2014 (2014-02-11) (Berlin)
  • April 16, 2014 (2014-04-16) (United Kingdom)
  • August 28, 2014 (2014-08-28) (United States[1])
Running time
 97 minutes[2]
Country
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • France
Language English
Greek
Turkish
Box office $4.5 million[3]

The Two Faces of January is a 2014 American-British-French thriller film written and directed by Hossein Amini, in his directorial debut. It is based on Patricia Highsmith's 1964 novel of the same name and stars Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac.

Filming took place on location in Greece and Turkey, and at Ealing Studios. It premiered in February 2014 in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.[4]

Plot

In 1962, con man Chester MacFarland and his wife Colette tour Greece and visit the Acropolis of Athens. There they meet Rydal Keener, who scams tourists while working as a tour guide. The MacFarlands invite Rydal to dinner, and Rydal, intrigued by the couple's wealth and Colette's beauty, accepts their invitation, mentioning his girlfriend.[5]

Colette likes Rydal, but Chester does not trust him. After dinner, they part, but Rydal goes back to their hotel to return a bracelet Colette left in their shared taxi. Meanwhile, a private detective hired by victims of Chester's investment swindles goes to the MacFarlands' hotel room and demands that Chester repay their money. The detective pulls a gun, and Chester kills him in a brief struggle. While he is trying to stow the body in the detective's hotel room, Rydal finds him in the corridor. Chester asks Rydal for his help, pretending that he found the detective drunk and unconscious at the bar.

Rydal takes the MacFarlands to see a friend who can furnish false passports to replace those they left at their hotel's front desk. He suggests waiting for the counterfeit documents on Crete. There they cannot check into a hotel without identification papers. They spend the evening at a restaurant where Chester gets drunk while watching Rydal and Colette dance and grow close. They all sleep the night on the quayside. They travel by bus to Chania, where Colette visits Rydal's room while her husband sleeps; it is left ambiguous whether they have sex. On the way back to Iraklion, Colette believes someone has recognized her from newspaper pictures of the Americans who fled the hotel in Athens, and runs off the bus at a stop. Chester and Rydal follow and together they walk to the ruins of Knossos.

When it begins to rain and they seek shelter, Chester lures Rydal into an underground labyrinth and knocks him out. As Chester tries to pull Colette up the stairs, she loses her balance and falls to her death. When Rydal comes to in the morning, he is seen leaving by a group of students and their guide. Chester has rushed to Iraklion to pick up the passports, paying Rydal's friend $2,500. Rydal arrives in Knossos and tracks Chester down. The two realize they are bound together by the various roles in the detective's death, acquiring false passports, and Colette's death. If either is arrested he will implicate the other.

After taking the ship to Athens, they go to the airport, where Chester pretends to buy them both tickets to Frankfurt. He says he is going for a drink and boards a plane to Istanbul, leaving Rydal with a suitcase containing documents that will tie him to Colette. Rydal realizes that Chester has probably reported him to the police anonymously and he flees the airport and appears to have escaped the police.

Rydal locates Chester in Istanbul and demands a meeting in the Grand Bazaar, threatening to go the police unless Chester pays him off. In fact, Rydal has been arrested. The authorities have made him wear a wire and expect him to extract a confession from Chester. At their rendezvous Rydal's insistent questioning makes Chester suspicious. Sensing a trap, he flees and a chase through the dark ensues, with both Chester and Rydal fleeing the police. A policeman shoots Chester who, as he lies dying, speaks into Rydal's wire tap, admitting responsibility for the two deaths and exonerating Rydal. After Rydal is released, he goes to Chester's grave.

Cast

Production

Hossein Amini wrote the screenplay, which also marks his directorial debut; Amini said he had wanted to direct a film adaptation of the novel for the past 15 years. Amini's screenplay is based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. He wrote:

What I love about Highsmith is the way that she puts us in the shoes of traditionally 'unlikeable' characters, often criminals, and then makes us not only understand their motivations but recognize something of ourselves in them... It was this type of connection that drew me to Chester MacFarland,... a jealous, alcoholic conman who is nevertheless a deeply tragic figure. His journey of murder, flight and redemption made him an unforgettable character for me and one of the main reasons I wanted to turn the novel into a film.

Producer Tom Sternberg optioned the rights to the novel and originally set up a project with the production company Mirage. Sternberg developed the project with Amini and it found the backing by StudioCanal and Working Title.[6]

Principal photography began August 2012 in Athens, Crete, Istanbul, and London's Ealing Studios.[7] Identifiable locations include the Küçük Hasan mosque on Chania harbour, a nearby café and the Grand Arsenal in Plateia Katehaki, the ruins of Knossos near Iraklion, and the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.[8]

Release

StudioCanal distributed the film in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and New Zealand, and Universal Studios distributed it in Spain and Scandinavia; the latter sold distribution rights for other territories.[7] Entertainment One acquired rights for Canada. Magnolia Pictures picked up distribution rights for the United States and released the film via VOD on August 28, 2014, to be followed by a theatrical release on October 3, 2014.[9][10][11]

Reception

The Two Faces of January received mostly positive reviews; it currently holds an 82% rating based on 105 reviews on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The consensus states: "With striking visuals, complex characters, and Hitchcockian plot twists, The Two Faces of January offers a pleasantly pungent treat for fans of romantic thrillers."[12] On Metacritic, the film has a 66/100 rating from 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13] Peter DeBruge of Variety wrote that Amini "expertly blends touches of Hitchcock and Highsmith".[14] In comparing it to The Talented Mr. Ripley, Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter said that it lacks the "joie de vivre" of that film, but has lush cinematography and shows Amini's "skill at working with actors".[15] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Amini adds embellishing details and plot layers, hints at a grave Oedipal disturbance, turns up the sexual heat and smoothly increases the narrative torque."[16] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "As was the case in the book, there are moves that don't always make sense, but the game-playing is riveting."[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Two Faces of January". Magnolia Pictures. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. January 27, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  3. ↑ "The Two Faces of January (2014) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Berlinale Special 2014". berlinale. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Staff (October 4, 2012). "First Still From The Two Faces of January". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  6. ↑ Hopewell, John; Keslassy, Elsa (July 11, 2012). "Kirsten Dunst joins 'Two Faces of January'". Variety.
  7. 1 2 Goodfellow, Melanie (August 31, 2012). "The Two Faces of January starts shooting". Screen Daily.
  8. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/10795482/The-Two-Faces-of-January-ancient-ruins-are-the-real-stars.html
  9. ↑ "The Two Faces of January". Magnolia Pictures. March 25, 2014.
  10. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (March 25, 2014). "Phase 4 Films Takes 'The Two Faces of January' For Canada". The Hollywood Reporter.
  11. ↑ "Two Faces of January". Magnolia Pictures.
  12. ↑ "The Two Faces of January". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  13. ↑ "The Two Faces of January". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  14. ↑ DeBruge, Peter (February 14, 2014). "Berlin Film Review: 'The Two Faces of January'". Variety. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  15. ↑ Young, Deborah (February 11, 2014). "The Two Faces of January: Berlin Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  16. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (September 25, 2014). "A Tour Guide Goes Above and Beyond". The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  17. ↑ Sharkey, Betsy (September 25, 2014). "Review 'Two Faces of January' a twisted tale driven by talented trio". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
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