THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY

UK/US, 2014, 96 minutes, Colour.
Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac, Kirsten Dunst, Daisy Bevan.
Directed by Hossein Amini.


The Two Faces of January is based on a thriller by novelist, Patricia Highsmith. Appreciated in film circles, she is best known for the adaptations of her novel, Strangers on a Train, by Alfred Hitchcock, and the various versions of the Tom Ripley story,The Talented Mr Ripley, the René Clement version, Purple Noon, with Alain Delon and Anthony Minghella’s, The Talented Mr Ripley, with Matt Damon.

The screenplay has been written by its first-time director, Hossein Amini, whose screenplays are as diverse as Jude, The Wings of the Dove, Drive.

The settings are quite exotic, Athens, the Parthenon and the market, Crete and the historical site of Colossus, and Turkey. And the cast is quite significant, Viggo Mortensen as a financier from New York, Kirsten Dunst as his much younger wife travelling with him, Oscar Isaac as an American tour guide in Athens.

The film takes place over only a few days, starting with people wandering the Acropolis, the suspicions of the financier about the guide and his wife checking him out, finding him credible and their joining him for a tour of the market as well as dinner. The audience knows that the guide has worked a financial trick in the buying of a bangle, so he is the first one under suspicion.

When the couple return to the hotel, a private detective accosts the financial financier and reveals that he has been involved in very shady deals and, with another name, is spending the money on the continent. When difficulties follow, and the guide appears at the hotel to return the lost bangle, the plot becomes quite complicated, and the three arrange for false passports and go to Crete. While there, the financier’s hold on life is lessened by his continued drinking, suspicious of his wife and her relationship with the guide, leading to violence.

The action culminates in Turkey, the final words of the financier altering the direction in which the film seem to be going.

An interesting entertainment but, with its narrow focus, does not have quite the punch that a more popularised version would have.


1. Thriller, psychological drama? Adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel?


2. The 1960s, the setting in the United States and its background, Greece, Turkey, Crete? The musical score?

3. The tradition of this kind of psychological drama, thriller? Characters, fraud, situations, twists?

4. The title, fraud and deception?

5. The location photography, Athens, the Parthenon, markets, Crete, old villages, archaeological ruins? Istanbul?

6. The introduction to Rydal, as a guide, American background, praising the Parthenon, the group of young women, playing to them? Lauren? Meeting her later, the meal?

7. Chester and Collette, as a couple, the age difference, elegance, on tour, seeing Rydal, Chester’s suspicions? Collette checking? the meeting, the tour of the market, buying the books, the bangle and Rydal and his double-dealing with the cash?

8. The dinner, Collette providing her background, New York City, Chester and his work in finance, Rydal and his father, the letter to his conscience, to attend his father’s funeral, his not going? His rebellion against his academic father? Chester not believing this?

9. In the hotel, the room, the knock, the Private Investigator, the confrontation, the gun, the information about Chester’s dealings, the truth, Chester hitting the man, his death?

10. Carrying the corpse, not disturbing Collette, Rydal and his concern about the bangle, returning, having to help Chester, not being told the complete truth? Leaving the dead man in his room?

11. Leaving the hotel, Chester and his fear, his drinking, Rydal and the offer to help, the contact about the passports, the prices? The rendezvous in Crete?

12. Rydal not told the truth, discovering the man was dead, taking the couple to Crete, Chester and Rydal and their struggles?

13. Crete, exotic, staying up all night, drinking, Chester clutching the case, with all the money? Collette sleeping, the morning apologies, the doughnut?

14. The bus, information in the papers, the pictures, Collette upset that she was identified, getting out of the bus, the clash, walking to the ruins, the hotel?

15. The ruins, Rydal being seen by the students? The clashes with Chester, the struggle, his being knocked out? Chester and Collette, her upset, her falling, his taking the jewels, framing Rydal?

16. Rydal waking, Chester having gone to collect the passports? Going to the airport, the tickets, Chester deceiving Rydal, the plan to go to Frankfurt, his going to Istanbul? His drinking?

17. Rydal framed for the murder? His being in Istanbul, going to the police, being wired, trying to persuade Chester to confess? Chester aware, running,
being shot, confessing before he died?

18. An elegant filming of a popular novel?