Review: Breaking and Entering

UK release date: 10th November

Writer/director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) has assembled an impressive international cast for this thoughtful adult drama. The film captures the cultural and social maelstrom of the King’s Cross area of London, while probing the emotional confusion of a young architect working on its regeneration.

After opening an office in the heart of the district, Will (Jude Law) is infuriated when two break-ins occur in quick succession. Meanwhile, his long-term relationship with his Swedish-American partner Liv (Robin Wright Penn) is in difficulty. He mounts his own night watch at the offices and follows one of the young thieves home — the rooftop acrobatics of the young thief are especially impressive, albeit that they are laboriously counterpointed with the gymnastics of Liv’s troubled daughter. Instead of reporting him to the police, Will begins a tentative relationship with the boy’s mother, Amira (Juliette Binoche), a Bosnian refugee who works at home as a tailor.

This is an intelligent and articulate drama, but it is weighed down by an excess of metaphors about breaking (and mending) things, and ultimately seems cold and overly contrived.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate 15
Running time 118mins

Review by Brian Pendreigh

News: Jude Law

Having recently declared himself to be “skint” following his divorce from Sadie Frost, Breaking and Entering‘s Law is working overtime to pay the bills, so all his latest news was covered two weeks ago, on the release of his last movie, All the King’s Men.

News: Juliet Binoche

The Frenchwoman best known for her turns in 2000’s Chocolat and Krzysztof Kieslowski‘s majestic early ’90s Three Colours series proves once again that she’s one of the most beautiful actresses currently working, despite now being in her 42nd year, in this week’s Breaking and Entering, making a convincing love interest for Jude Law despite being several years his senior. She is also still hard at work in movies on both sides of the Channel and both sides of the Atlantic, from Chinese director Hsiao-hsien Hou’s French language fantasy Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon) to the American Steve Carrell comedy Dan In Real Life.

Likely to be Binoche’s most interesting upcoming project, however, is the film adaptation of comic Steve Martin’s successful stage play Picasso at the Lapin Agile, due in 2008. Based around a meeting between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in 1904 Paris, rumoured stars currently include not only Martin (who will also provide the screenplay), but also Kevin Kline, Jason Biggs, Ryan Phillippe and Elijah Wood. Should be interesting, at least – if only to see the ever-surprising Wood take on Einstein…

News: Ray Winstone

Burly hardman Winstone has been doing rather well of late, with turns in this week’s Breaking and Entering and last month’s The Departed adding to his recent TV success in Vincent adding yet more points to his impressive CV. Up next, he’ll take the lead in the Robert Zemeckis-directed Beowulf, based on the ancient epic poem and with a script co-wrtten by comic book hero Neil Gaiman. With a cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, it’s certainly one to look forward to – but we’ve still got another year to wait.Other film projects rumoured to have the Winstone touch include Death of a Ladies’ Man, scripted by cult Australian songwriter Nick Cave and to be directed by John Hillcoat, who helmed last year’s top-notch The Proposition, also written by Cave and co-starring Winstone. Our dear tough guy will play a recently-widowed salesman who takes his young son on the road – so may be an interesting departure for an actor better known for breaking faces than hearts. There have also been a few rumours that he may be appearing alongside Robert Carlyle, Kevin Spacey and Twiggy in cult director Ken Russell’s upcoming King’s X – about which practically nothing is yet known

News: Robin Wright Penn

Jude Law’s jilted wife in this week’s Breaking and Entering (and the wife of Sean Penn in real life) seems to be making a bit of a comeback after several years of relative obscurity. Potentially most intersting is her turn as Queen Wealhtheow in Beowulf, the title character played by her Breaking and Entering co-star Ray Winstone, though the as-yet untitled film about the love affair of writer Ernest Hemmingway (to be played by James Gandolfini) and journalist Martha Gellhorn could also prove a hit, and even – if it’s played right – a potential Oscar contender for the 2008 awards.