SLEUTH
Director: Kenneth Branagh Stars: Michael Caine, Jude Law
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
Sleuth is a remake of Anthony Shaffer's play, Sleuth, and the film version directed by Joseph L Mankiewicz in 1972 with Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. Michael Caine now takes on the Olivier role.
The film has been rewritten for the screen by playwright, Harold Pinter, using the basis of Anthony Shaffer's play, but introducing the dialogue so typical of Pinter himself and his plays like The Birthday Party, The Caretaker... But, whether it works well on screen rather than on stage? And how does Caine compare with Olivier and Law with Caine?
The film is set in a rather lavish modernistic mansion with very few scenes outside the house. The film focuses on a popular novel writer who is visited by a part-time actor who wants to persuade him to give his wife a divorce because the actor is living with her. The actor then plays a psychological and physical game with the visitor. In the second part of the film, the visitor assumes the disguise of a police inspector, and turns the tables on the novelist.
The film is interesting verbally, for its performances, for its sleight of hand with the performance by the actor. It has a rather sudden ending - something of a shock to the system.
Branagh has directed the thriller and mystery, Dead Again. He has followed in Laurence Olivier's footsteps by directing versions of Henry V, Hamlet, and performing as Iago in a screen version of Othello. He also directed versions of Much Ado About Nothing, Loves Labours Lost and As You Like It.
Reviewed by MARCUS SINCLAIR
Kenneth Branagh’s Sleuth is one of the oddest yet most fascinating movies that I have seen in a long time. I say oddest because the story line is silly with its far-fetched twists of plot and over indulgent characters. It even was in the play of the same name written by Anthony Shaffer and brought to the screen in 1972 by Joseph L Mankiewicz.
Harold Pinter, with his screenplay for Branagh, has pruned the original, cutting it back from over two hours to a fraction over eighty-eight minutes. It has his typical form of dialogue: clipped sentences, broken up or followed by long pauses. And the director knows how to make this appear interesting. By using close-ups of the players’ faces and holding them for what seems to be over-long he gives the viewer the impression that he/she is eavesdropping on something private or confidential. This technique works for a time, but with continuous repetitions it become tedious.
Now comes the fascinating part of this movie. It deals with the director’s use of mise en scene and montage. Each shot is beautifully photographed and presented with pristine clarity and colour. Great attention is given to camera angles, settings, decor, colour schemes, composition, and cutting, as well as to music. The overall impression is like looking at a series of trompe l’oeil pictures or a collection of high art, glossy photographs. But it is more than just window dressing. It is an integral part of the characters being portrayed – their love of luxury, their self-centredness, their over inflated egos that are a cover for deep insecurity. Michael Caine and Jude Law, though over-the-top, give sustained performances, but the characters they create are mere ciphers. It is Branagh’s technique that steals the show, and on the strength of this I would, without hesitation, declare him to be one of the most interesting and exciting directors working in the film industry today.