1 murder for 2

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Movie
German title 1 murder for 2
Original title Sleuth
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 86 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Kenneth Branagh
script Harold Pinter
production Kenneth Branagh,
Simon Halfon ,
Jude Law,
Simon Moseley ,
Marion Pilowsky ,
Tom Sternberg
music Patrick Doyle
camera Haris Zambarloukos
cut Neil Farrell
occupation

1 Murder for 2 (Original title: Sleuth ) is an American thriller from 2007 . Directed by Kenneth Branagh and written by Harold Pinter , based on the 1969 play Revanche ( Sleuth ) by Anthony Shaffer .

action

Milo Tindle, an unemployed actor, has an affair with the wife of the famous and wealthy crime writer Andrew Wyke.

At the author's invitation, they meet in private at Wyke's house. Tindle wants Wyke to divorce his wife. But the latter suggests something else: he tells Tindle to steal jewelry worth a million pounds.

After some thought, Tindle goes into Wyke's "game," as he calls it, and follows his well-prepared break-in instructions. Wyke suddenly pulls out a pistol and threatens Tindle with it. It looks like Wyke has been fooling Tindle all along and just wants revenge on his wife's lover. After Wyke fires two shots into the wall to reinforce his threat, Tindle begs for his life. Wyke shoots - Tindle collapses.

A few days later: A man with a leather jacket gets out of the car and rings the doorbell at Wyke's apartment. He introduces himself as the inspector investigating the disappearance of a young man who was last seen in a nearby hotel three days ago: Tindle. He also mentions knowing about Wyke's wife and Tindle's relationship. And ultimately, he accuses him of murdering Tindle. Wyke starts to sweat. But then the inspector reveals himself as Tindle in disguise, who has played a well-planned revenge prank on the author. In a flashback, it becomes clear that the third bullet in Wyke's gun was just a blank cartridge and that Tindle only passed out from the shock of being shot at him.

Tindle forces Wyke to open the safe and take out the jewelry. Both think that the "score" is now 1: 1 and it remains to be seen who wins the last set.

This leads to a psychologically heated scene in the bedroom (inserted into the original plot by Pinter) in which the two - also physically - get closer. When Tindle abruptly pushes the affectionate Wyke away and insults him in the worst possible way, Wyke draws his weapon, whereupon the murderous game comes to its final score with another shot.

Film music

Patrick Doyle wrote the soundtrack.

  1. The Visitor
  2. The Ladder
  3. You're now you
  4. I'm not a hairdresser
  5. Black Arrival
  6. Milo Tindle
  7. I Was Lying
  8. Itch Twitch
  9. Rat In A Trap
  10. One set all
  11. Cobblers
  12. Sleuth
  13. Too Much Sleuth

backgrounds

The play had already been filmed in 1972 by Joseph L. Mankiewicz as murder with minor mistakes . In this film adaptation, Laurence Olivier played the writer, while Michael Caine took on the role of the wife's lover. The remake refers to the fact that the writer repeatedly referred to the actor as a hairdresser, in the first version the actor was a hairdresser.

The film was shot in Twickenham Film Studios, England, and in Bedfordshire . It had its world premiere at the 2007 Venice Film Festival , which opened on August 29 . The cinema release in Germany was on December 20, 2007.

The Filmbewertungsstelle (FBW) gave the film the title “Particularly valuable”.

Box office

According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed around $ 342,000 in the US, the equivalent of $ 732,000 in the UK and $ 569,000 in Germany. In total, cinemas worldwide generated revenues of approximately $ 4.84 million.

Reviews

English language reviews

Carina Chocano wrote for the Los Angeles Times that the verbal battles were so sharp that it was a miracle that nobody lost an eye (“ … the verbal sparring is so sharp it's a wonder nobody loses an eye… ”). It is with great pleasure to watch Caine and Law attack each other with such violence.

Roger Ebert wrote in his film review that if you have seen the play or the earlier film ( murder with small mistakes ) you shouldn't think that you already know the new film. (" ... do not make the mistake of thinking that if you've seen the earlier play or film, you've got this one covered ... ")

Robert Koehler wrote on August 30, 2007 in Variety that this was a radically different "Sleuth" and in places it looked like a Pinter self-parody (" this is a radically different 'Sleuth', one that feels at times like Pinter self-parody " " ). The portrayal of Jude Law is not convincing, especially in the second half of the film. The director has no sense of how to place the two actors in the rooms (“ has no eye for how to frame two bodies in strong, empty spaces ”). Koehler also criticized the editing and the film music (“ Patrick Doyle's grinding score sounds like a poor substitute for suitably minimalist composers like Michael Nyman. ”).

Roderick Conway Morris wrote on August 31, 2007 on the online culture page of the International Herald Tribune that the film was a compelling experience and reflected the enormous changes in English society, language and morals since the play was premiered nearly 40 years ago.

German-language reviews

Susan Vahabzadeh wrote in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on September 1, 2007 that the film creates a balance between “what you want to do” and “the possibilities, your own abilities and the expectations of the people you turn to”. It's fun to “watch and listen to Caine and Law doing their verbal pas de deux”. However, the film contains "too much of everything, too much decoration, exhibited acting, cinematic circus". The director acts "like the typical theater man in the cinema - so obsessed with the camera, angles, journeys that the film never comes to rest and enables you to really get involved with the story". The Filmbewertungsstelle Wiesbaden sums it up: "A pleasure for ears, eyes and mind that is seldom seen in the cinema."

The lexicon of international films judges: “The remake of the classic film 'Murder with Small Mistakes' in 1972 has similar staging strengths to the original: brilliant actors, razor-sharp dialogues and a refined handling of the cinematic space, which is limited to a single location. On top of that, the film manages to cleverly set its own accents in the contours of the male power struggle. "

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Filming locations for Sleuth, accessed September 1, 2007
  2. Premiere dates for Sleuth. IMDb , updated November 2, 2007
  3. Rating of the Film Evaluation Board (FBW)
  4. boxofficemojo.com , accessed December 28, 2008.
  5. ^ Carina Chocano: Review of the film. In: Los Angeles Times , October 12, 2007 (English)
  6. Roger Ebert : Film Review. ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Times-Herald News , October 19, 2007 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.timesheraldnews.com
  7. ^ Print version of September 3, 2007
  8. ^ Robert Koehler: film review. ( Memento of October 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Variety , August 30, 2007 (English)
  9. ^ Roderick Conway Morris: Film Review. In: The International Herald Tribune , August 31, 2007 (English)
  10. Susan Vahabzadeh: Review. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 1, 2007
  11. 1 Murder for 2 ( Memento from April 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Films AZ, on fbw-filme.de
  12. Horst Peter Koll, Hans Messias (Red.): Lexicon of International Films - Film Year 2007 . Journal film-dienst and Catholic Film Commission for Germany (ed.), Schüren Verlag, Marburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89472-624-9 .