The Ghost Writer (film)
The Ghost Writer (released as The Ghost in the United Kingdom and Ireland)[4] is a 2010 neo-noir[5] political thriller film directed by Roman Polanski. The film is an adaptation of a 2007 Robert Harris novel, The Ghost, with the screenplay written by Polanski and Harris. It stars Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, and Olivia Williams.
The Ghost Writer
Robert Harris
Roman Polanski
The Ghost
by Robert Harris
Roman Polanski
Robert Benmussa
Alain Sarde
Optimum Releasing (United Kingdom)
Pathé Distribution (France and Switzerland)[1]
Kinowelt Filmverleih (Germany)[2]
- 12 February 2010 (Berlin Film Festival)
- 18 February 2010 (Germany)
- 3 March 2010 (France)
- 16 April 2010 (United Kingdom)
128 minutes
United Kingdom
France
Germany
English
€30.8 million[3]
$60.2 million[2]
The film was a critical and commercial success and won numerous cinematic awards including Best Director for Polanski at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival and also at the 23rd European Film Awards in 2010.[6]
Plot[edit]
A British ghostwriter is hired by London-based publishing firm Rhinehart, Inc. to complete the autobiography of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang due to The Ghost's predecessor and Lang's aide, Mike McAra, having recently died in a supposed drowning accident, with Lang's Washington lawyer giving him a manuscript which two thugs later assault and rob him for. The Ghost travels to Old Haven on Martha's Vineyard, where Lang and his wife Ruth are staying at a complex with Lang's personal assistant; Amelia with anti-war protestors demonstrating with a berieved father ranting that his son died "in one of Lang's illegal wars". Later in the evening, when The Ghost is at the hotel bar, the berieved father inquires of Lang's whereabouts with The Ghost coldly feigning ignorance.
Former British Foreign Secretary Richard Rycart accuses Lang of authorizing the extraordinary rendition of suspected terrorists. Lang faces prosecution by the International Criminal Court unless he stays in the United States. While Lang is in Washington, D.C., the Ghost then inadvertently finds a hidden envelope containing photographs and a phone number in McAra's former room, and photos that reveal Lang met Ruth long before Cambridge and when he calls the number, meets Rycart.
The Ghost meets a longtime resident revealing that is impossible for ocean currents to deposit a body on a beach and that he was assaulted on the night before. Ruth reveals to The Ghost that Lang and McAra had argued the night before the latter's death, and they have a one night stand.
The Ghost takes McAra's car with the intent of returning to his hotel, but follows the pre-programmed directions on the car's sat-nav instead. The car takes the Ghost to the Belmont home of Professor Paul Emmett, who denies anything more than a cursory acquaintance with Lang, despite several pictures of the pair together. When the Ghost tells Emmett the sat-nav proves McAra visited him the night he died, Emmett denies meeting McAra and becomes evasive. When The Ghost leaves, a dark full-size vehicle chases The Ghost before he loses it.
When The Ghost has driven onto the ferry back to Martha's Vineyard, the dark vehicle reappears and The Ghost loses the two thugs by jumping off. With no one else to turn to, the Ghost asks Rycart for help. At a motel, The Ghost researches links between Emmett and a military contractor as well as the CIA. At a diner, Rycart reveals McAra gave him documents linking Lang to so-called "torture flights", in which terrorist suspects were placed on private jets to be tortured while airborne. Rycart claims that McAra found new evidence, which he wrote about in the "beginnings" of the manuscript. The men cannot, however, find anything in the early pages. The Ghost discusses Emmett's relationship with Lang, while Rycart recounts how Lang's decisions as Prime Minister uniformly benefited US interests, with Amelia calling The Ghost while airborne in Lang's head-of-state jet who then has Lang express interest in completing the biography with a hesitant The Ghost agreeing at Rycart's encouragement.
The Ghost confronts Lang and accuses him of being a CIA agent recruited by Emmett who outbursts in rage. Shortly after landing at Old Haven airport, Lang is assassinated by the berieved father from a rooftop and the assassin is promptly executed by Lang's bodyguards. The Ghost is asked to complete the book for posthumous publication.
At the book's launch party in London, the Ghost learns that Emmett, who is in attendance, was Ruth's tutor when she was at Harvard. Amelia reveals that the first word of each chapter of the original manuscript is the clue and The Ghost discovers the message: "Lang's wife Ruth was recruited as a CIA agent by Professor Paul Emmett of Harvard University." The Ghost passes a note to Ruth revealing his discovery with her becoming confrontative, seeing the Ghost raising a glass to her but unable to confront him being thwarted by guests. The Ghost leaves the party and as he attempts to flag down a taxi in the street, a car accelerates in his direction, and a thud is heard. Witnesses react in horror, and the pages containing McAra's manuscript scatter in the wind with an officer remarking; "this one looks nasty".
Release[edit]
The film premièred at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival on 12 February 2010,[17] and was widely released throughout much of Europe during the following four weeks. It went on general release in the US on 19 March 2010 and in the UK on 16 April 2010.[18]
For the US theatrical release, the dialogue was censored and re-dubbed with tamer language in order to meet the Motion Picture Association's qualifications for a PG-13 rating.[19] The censored PG-13 version was later used for the US DVD and Blu-ray releases while the uncensored version was retained for most international DVD and Blu-ray releases.[20]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
The film has received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 84% of critics gave positive reviews based on a sample of 210 reviews with an average rating of 7.4/10.[21] The website's critics consensus reads, "While it may lack the revelatory punch of Polanski's finest films, Ghost Writer benefits from stylish direction, a tense screenplay, and a strong central performance from Ewan McGregor."[21] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, gave the film an average rating of 77% based on 35 reviews.[22] At the end of the year, the film placed at #4 in both Film Comment and The Village Voice's annual critics' polls.[23][24]
Critic Andrew Sarris wrote that the film "constitutes a miracle of artistic and psychological resilience."[25] Roger Ebert gave the film a full four stars and declared it was "the work of a man who knows how to direct a thriller."[26] Jim Hoberman of The Village Voice placed the film at #3 on his year-end list and wrote that "The Pianist had its moments, but Polanski hasn’t made a movie so sustained in the decades since The Tenant or even 1966’s Cul de Sac."[27] Jonathan Rosenbaum would later write that "The Ghost Writer is easily Polanski’s best film since Bitter Moon, and certainly his most masterful."[28] Political analyst William Bradley dubbed it "one of the best films I've seen in recent years" in a review for The Huffington Post that dealt with the film's artistic and political dimensions.[29] The Guardian said "Roman Polanski's deft take on Robert Harris's political thriller is the director's most purely enjoyable film for years."[30]
However, John Rentoul from the UK's liberal The Independent, who describes himself as an "ultra Blairite with a slavish admiration for Tony", and John Rosenthal, from the conservative Pajamas Media, both denounced the film because it was made with financial support from the German government. Rentoul also criticized Polanski, describing the film as "propaganda" and a "Blair hating movie".[31]
Keith Uhlich of Time Out New York named The Ghost Writer the second-best film of 2010, describing it as "what an expertly executed thriller is supposed to be."[32]