THE TOURIST
US, 2010, 103 minutes, Colour.
Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Steven Berkoff, Rufus Sewell.
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Fluff and nonsense. And in equal parts. A film for winding down, letting the mind go into neutral and just gliding along.
It looks good. Nice scenes of Paris boulevards, apartments and cafes. Very nice scenes of lush Italian countryside. Even nicer vistas of Venice, the canals, the side streets, the Rialto, plenty of them. And the hotel is the Danieli – nothing but the most affluent.
She looks good. That is, Angelina Jolie, looking as glamorous as you could want, dressed to the nines and beyond in a variety of dresses and gowns, walking along the streets and into hotels and ballrooms as if she were permanently on the catwalk of life. Well, I suppose she is.
Can’t say that Johnny Depp looks all that good, longish unkempt hair, moustache and an almost permanent look of boyish lostness – even when clambering over the roofs of Venice in his pyjamas, pursued by gunmen. The final line of the film is a joke at the expense of his face.
Perhaps you are getting the picture - or the variety of pictures The Tourist offers.
Plot is another matter.
It seems often enough like a continental romantic comedy. Then there is a kissing scene and the orchestra swells (and there are some when it doesn’t swell) and we find that it is all a dream and it is being sent up. Actually, the film has its tongue very firmly in its cheek for a lot of the time and challenges the audience to determine whether it is being serious, being romantic, being silly and spoofing. (Critics and public alike decided that they couldn’t decide or didn’t want to and thought the film too trivial to give an opinion beyond disapproval.) But, whether you like it or not, that is the point: a glamorous spoof.
Actually, there is more to the plot than that. It is a policier with the touch of the thriller. An Englishman named Alexander Pearce, who committed enormous fraud on a gangster, is being pursued by Scotland Yard (a pleasant Paul Bettany who seems to get it wrong all the time and his boss, Timothy Dalton – as if James Bond had retired to bureaucracy). His girlfriend is under constant surveillance and by Interpol (with some inefficient and some corrupt Italian police as well). Steven Berkoff is at his most Berkoffish as the gangster with Russian thugs and no scruples. Johnny Depp plays a Wisconsin maths teacher in a completely opposite style to Jack Sparrow, the Mad Hatter or Willy Wonka – which is a bit of relief.
Police, gangsters, thugs,
There are some major, major twists at the end (which you may see coming), but it is to the credit of the cast that they make these twists seem quite implausible when they are revealed. The Tourist would not bear seeing twice because the dialogue, behaviour of the characters and the situations would seem even more improbable than in mere retrospect. This is not a screenplay to engage the intellect.
It is based on a 2005 French story, Anthony Zimmer, starring Sophie Marceau and Yvan Attal with American Christopher Macquarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) contributing to the screenplay.
It is useful to compare the two films. The original French film by Jerome Salle is more streamlined in plot than The Tourist. Sophie Marceau is less aloof than Angelina Jolie, Yvan Attal less scruffy than Johnny Depp. The re-make makes a lot more of surveillance technology and of the detective on the track of the fraudster. The same twists are there but, there is a momentary credibility in the original than in the remake.
However, audiences will recognise the similarities of plot, especially up to the train journey and the arrival in Nice. There is the hotel room, the chase by the Russians, the interrogations by the police. But the new writers have added quite a bit of detailed comic business, some of it witty, some of it droll compared with the original. There is no grand ball in the original but the set up is the same – but maybe Anthony Zimmer at the end is a bit more honourable than Alexander Pearce.
And many eyebrows have already been raised with the discovery that the director of The Tourist is Florian Henckel von Donnersmark. It is his second film – he won the Oscar and universal plaudits for his feature film debut, The Lives of Others. So there!
1. The blend of romantic comedy, police mystery, spoof?
2. The lavish use of Paris and Venice locations? The Italian countryside? Wide screen? Giving an authentic atmosphere?
3. The tone, tongue-in-cheek, the twists? How credible – or not? The fluff, make-believe?
4. The affluent background, the costumes and Angelina Jolie, the décor, Venice, the lush score?
5. The twists, in retrospect and their credibility? Situations and dialogue?
6. Angelina Jolie as Elise: glamour, the range of clothes, her catwalk style, the apartment in Paris, going to the café, under surveillance, the message with her tea, burning the message, going to the station, at the Metro and waiting for the police to catch up, on the train, surveying the men, picking Frank, talking with him, seductive, indicating that he should not ask questions, going to have the meal with him, leaving him? In Venice, seeing Frank and inviting him to join her, the Danieli Hotel? The reception, the lavish room, the restaurant and the meal, his sleeping on the couch, kissing him goodbye, seeing Frank on the roof, her concern? Organising the boat, his escape, the manoeuvres along the canal? Taking him to the airport and giving him the money?
7. The police, Elise’s back-story, her being an agent, her cover, her being with Alexander Pearce for a year? With the head of Scotland Yard? With John Acheson? Under surveillance? Her meeting with John? The discussions? Going to the ball, the wire, the meeting various people, Frank and his dance with her? Her getting the boat, the confrontation with Shaw and his men? The safe, her confessing? Frank’s arrival, her concern, declaration of love, the gun, the Russians being shot? The truth – and the end and her ironic comment about Johnny Depp’s face?
8. John Acheson, his French contacts, the chief inspector and his hard line? The photos of Frank, photocopying, checking them out? His watching the surveillance screens? Going to Venice, meeting Elise? Abducting Frank? Frank’s escape? The shooting of the Russians? The information about Shaw being given by his underling?
9. The chief inspector, in charge, the overtones of James Bond in retirement? His arrival in Venice, with Elise?
10. Frank, his appearance, hair and moustache, the maths teacher, in the train as a tourist, Elise sitting with him, his awkward responses, the meal, looking at the map of Venice, Elise offering him the room, at the restaurant? On the couch, his dream of kissing Elise? The reality? Shaw’s men, the bedroom, the chase over the rooftops in his pyjamas, jumping, the knocking the policeman in the canal, his arrest, the interrogation, his being freed, handed over to Shaw’s men by the police inspector, the money? His being rescued by Elise? The manoeuvres in the canal? Going to the airport? His arrival at the ball, the tuxedo, dancing with Elise? John Acheson abducting him? The talk in the boat, urging the shooting of the Russians? Picking the lock after learning it from Elise? His escape, the confrontation of the Russians, his opening the safe – and the reality of his identity?
11. The Englishman, glimpsed in Paris, glimpsed at the ball, turning up at the end – the red herring?
12. The picture of agents, in France, the police, Interpol, the surveillance, the Italians in Venice – all at the station? The interrogations? The shootings and the end?
13. A holiday film – fluff and nonsense?
