Breaking and Entering
Studio: The Weinstein Company, Buena Vista International
Rated: R
Release Date: 2007-02-09
Cast: Jude Law, Vera Farmiga, Juliette Binoche, Martin Freeman, Ray Winstone
Director: Anthony Minghella
WorkNameSort: Breaking and Entering
Our Rating: 2.50
Writer-director Anthony Minghella has been pillaging the literature section of his local bookstore for some time, with adaptations of The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain establishing himself as one of the great directors working today in the process. Therefore, it’s surprising to find him tackling his first original material since his auspicious debut, Truly, Madly, Deeply. Breaking and Entering is not just about the criminal implication of those words (there are several robberies), but about how a narcissistic man (played adeptly by Jude Law, everyone’s favorite narcissist) enters into an affair that not only jeopardizes his lover’s family, but also his own with his live-in girlfriend (Robin Wright Penn) and her autistic daughter. Minghella’s effort might have succeeded if he didn’t have such an aversion to sloppiness, which life is so often about. His need to meticulously control every situation, to so perfectly intertwine the lives of every character and to tie up every loose thread creates a degree of contrivance so unrealistic that the fine performances of the cast are muted. Except, of course, Juliette Binoche as Law’s lover; no man’s effort could mute her.
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2007.