James R | On 14, Sep 2014

Director: Hossein Amini
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst
Certificate: 15
Watch The Two Faces of January online in the UK: Amazon Prime / TalkTalk TV / Apple TV (iTunes) / Prime Video (Buy/Rent) / Google Play

There’s a lot to be said for a nice hat. It can add historical authenticity, colourful character or sinister menace. Or sometimes it can just look very, very cool.

In The Two Faces of January, it does all three.

Chester (Mortensen) wears a hat. A nice hat. He looks good in it. And wealthy. So good – and so wealthy – that he catches the eye of Rydal (Isaac), a tour guide in Athens on the hunt for a quick buck. It is not long until Chester and his wife, Colette (Dunst), are going for dinner with Rydal, eating good food and wearing nice hats, as the outsider worms his way into their fancy company.

A con artist, a well-off couple and an exotic locale? There’s no doubt that The Two Faces of January is pure Patricia Highsmith. The author’s literature has inspired some of the best thrillers around, from Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train to Minghella’s sumptuous adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Highsmith’s literature deals in deception of identity and class, pristine period details mired in corruption.

The Two Faces of January follows that tradition in fine fashion, but covers a fascinating substance with its calm tailoring – one that relies on nuance more than narrative.

“I wouldn’t trust him to mow my lawn,” Chester tells Colette, warily, but it soon turns out that’s because he’s a swindler too; the pair are on the run after his dodgy financial deals went awry. Together, the three make natural bedfellows, each one seducing the other with the seed of distrust. Hossein Amini’s screenplay sits down at the table with them – and watches them fester in the heat.

Betrayals and re-betrayals are the order of the game, but Two Faces is more Polanski’s Knife in the Water than American Hustle; the trio sweat out the psychological tension from their roles, each secret divulged delicately shifting the balance of power.

Oscar Isaac is wonderfully slippery as the opportunistic Rydal, but he has a passionate side that makes him more emotionally complex than Highsmith’s more famous manipulator; a man whose feelings for his mark’s spouse are as much a motivation as money. Kirsten Dunst matches his conflict with an almost revelatory turn; after Melancholia and this, the 30-something actress has found a level of maturity in her career that suits her natural elegance and plausible naivety; she brings an old-school class to proceedings, a semi-knowing seductiveness that slinks through the drowsy Greek nights.

Viggo Mortensen completes the party with the most fascinating turn of all, a ruthless liar whose appearance of wealth wilts under the glare of the police and his own green-eyed male rage. Even the way he smokes a cigarette – or downs (lots of) Scotch – is hard to read.

Debut director Amini’s script places character before crime. His languorous pace – perhaps a mark of his inexperience at the helm – may stop him from reaching the heights of Minghella or Hitchcock, but it also works in his favour, giving the performers a chance to relish their chemistry and their fabulously designed costumes. The filmmaker has little interest in hurtling through the alleys of foreign cities with guns or finding a neat, happy ending. Instead, he prefers to soak up the ambiguous atmosphere in backstreet bars and tease out messy moral conundrums – it’s telling that the central set piece of the movie involves Rydal stalking through underground ruins with a lighter, the flame catching his ever-changing expressions.

In an age of fast action and loud explosions, The Two Faces of January is an unashamedly old-fashioned film, perhaps too old-fashioned for some. But for those who like their Highsmith served with style, that’s where its strength lies: the clammy claustrophobia of the rich gone wrong; the thrill of a clean linen suit stepping into the shadows; and, of course, the cool of a well-trimmed hat.

The Two Faces of January is available to watch online on Amazon Prime Video as part of a Prime membership or a £5.99 monthly subscription.

 

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