Match Point

SYNOPSIS

The role of luck in life is the theme of this morality fable from Woody Allen, his first film set in the United Kingdom. The cream of British acting talent (Brian Cox, Penelope Wilton, Emily Mortimer) surrounds superbly cast femme fatale Scarlett Johansson in a confidently layered tragedy that's spiked with mordant humour. Permanently grey London skies underscore the dark undercurrents in this story of a tennis coach (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who marries into the wealthy elite and is prepared to do anything to stay there. The script offers up a neat balance of sporting analogies and philosophical questions that continues right up to the surprising ending, when everything in Allen's well-observed class-conscious universe dovetails neatly together. Although it was originally written with the director's native New York in mind, Allen's creative juices have been clearly refreshed by his move across the pond, where the notion of privileged society is perhaps more resonant.