The Interpreter (2005)

Note des utilisateurs:

6.5/10   

Réalisateur:

Sydney Pollack

Writers (WGA):

Martin Stellman (story) &
Brian Ward (story) ...

Release Date:

22 avril 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drame | Thriller

Accroche:

The truth needs no translation.

Plot:

Political intrigue and deception unfold inside the United Nations, where a US Secret Service agent is assigned to investigate an interpreter who overhears an assassination plot.

Plot Keywords:

Interpreter | Political | United Nations | Secret Service | Suicide

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Avis des utilisateurs:

A Thriller Too Fictionalized to Pack A Real Punch

Ensemble

Nicole Kidman	...	Silvia Broome
Sean Penn	...	Tobin Keller
Catherine Keener	...	Dot Woods
Jesper Christensen	...	Nils Lud
Yvan Attal	...	Philippe
Earl Cameron	...	Zuwanie
George Harris	...	Kuman-Kuman
Michael Wright	...	Marcus
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Police Chief Lee Wu
Eric Keenleyside	...	Rory Robb
Hugo Speer	...	Simon Broome
Maz Jobrani	...	Mo
Yusuf Gatewood	...	Doug
Curtiss Cook	...	Ajene Xola (as Curtiss I'Cook)
Byron Utley	...	Jean Gamba

Autre(s) titre(s):

L'interprète (France)
L'interprète (Canada: French title) [fr]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, some sexual content and brief strong language.

Durée:

128 min

Pays:

UK | USA | France

Langue:

Aboriginal | Anglais | Français | Portugais

Couleur:

Couleur

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Son:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Classification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:U | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41613) | Denmark:11 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | France:U | UK:12 (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

East 9th Street & Stuyvesant Street, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Anecdotes:

Filming at the United Nations could only take place on the weekends. Film crews would move in on a Friday night, protect and prep the general assembly only to withdraw nearly all of their equipment by Sunday.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the bus explosion, Silvia has two cuts on her left cheek. After the blood is cleaned off, she has three cuts on her left cheek. Then in the next scene, the extra cut is much smaller, even though not very much time has elapsed.

Guillemet:

[first lines]
Simon Broome: She wouldn't tell me her husband's name. She wouldn't even write it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Don't Crash: The Documentary of the Making of the Movie of the Book of the Radio Series of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

F Stop Blues

A Thriller Too Fictionalized to Pack A Real Punch

"The Interpreter" is a politicized cross between "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" with "The Day of the Jackal." While it doesn't use African genocide as crudely as "Beyond Borders," it is painful to see a fictionalized story when the United Nations is right now doing so little about the horrors in Darfur, Nigeria, etc. It not only gives us a fictional conflict, but a fictional language, traditions and art (we don't get to hear much African music on the soundtrack, fictionalized or otherwise) -- and how many Americans even realize that an intoned list of victims are fictional names? From the opposite perspective, would "Casablanca" have the same resonance if it was within a fictional conflict? One can at least muse about the layers of meaning that could have been possible if Charlize Theron, a genuine white South African, had been cast instead of Nicole Kidman.

The climax with the megalomaniac mastermind is just plain foolish, particularly when we've seen how a real mass murderer ends up in "Downfall (Der Untergang)" - devoid of regrets or self-awareness, whereas here complex national politics are reduced to issues of individual actions and consequences.

Divorced from any message or politics, this is a respectable thriller. The chase scene in Brooklyn is very effective; I liked the touch of agents tailing different suspects frantically crossing paths.

Kidman's and Sean Penn's relationship is refreshingly adult-to-adult and restrained, with Penn's character on automatic as he's emotionally immobilized by grief. Catherine Keener's agent gets the best lines, adding some snap to the ponderousness. It's nice to see NY character actors in small roles throughout.

For a big budget film, the cinematography and make-up are distractingly harsh, particularly Penn's pancake shmear in a NYC January vs. Kidman's porcelain doll look; maybe they had lighting restrictions due to their much touted filming actually at the U.N.

I'm a fan of Lyle Lovett but I did not get the significance of his "If I Had A Boat" (from the "Pontiac" CD) being Penn's relationship song, let alone that he'd find a bar in NYC that had it on the jukebox.

Was it intentional that the last shot of the skyline of New York City only focused on midtown and did not sweep over to the terrorist-caused gap in the lower Manhattan silhouette?