BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD

US, 2007, 123 minutes, Colour.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Rosemary Harris, Michael Shannon, Amy Ryan, Brian F. O’ Byrne, Leonardo Cimino.
Directed by Sidney Lumet.

After working some years in live television drama, Sidney Lumet made his feature film debut in 1957 with Twelve Angry Men. He had made his mark with his first film, a director with a skill in storytelling, dramatic tension and characterisation. During the fifty years that followed he has made a number of outstanding films which range from classic dramas like O’ Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Miller’s A View from the Bridge (from the 1960s) to Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon in the 1970s, as well as his Oscar-nominated Network, Q and A and Prince of the City from the 1980s, Night Falls on Manhattan from the 1990s. At age 83, he has released Before the Devil… Lumet is a master screen storyteller.

This one is tough stuff. It boast s a strong cast with Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris as parents who own a jeweller’s shop in a mall in Westchester. They have two sons, Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman in yet another excellent and different performance) who works in real estate in Manhattan and Hank (a gaunt Ethan Hawke) as the spoilt son who has become one of life’s losers. Marisa Tomei is Andy’s wife.

The structure of the screenplay plays with time. We are introduced to the two brothers and then we are told it is the day of the heist. A masked man robs the jeweller’s shop and fatal shots are fired. We then go back several days in time and the screenplay develops the characters of the brothers and explains the set up for the heist. Just as we seem to be advancing chronologically, we take more steps back and fill in the background, being offered more and more clues to explain what has happened and why.

No good comes of this heist. The consequences are lethal and lead to downward moral spirals of most of the central characters. The ending is tragic as the audience is dismayed at what has happened and wonders why – and who could have made a move to stop the seemingly inevitable disaster.

The film is a fable about the moral crisis in contemporary society, the moral vacuum in so many people’s lives. It is a story about appearances and reality, about greed and unscrupulous manipulation of people. And it also highlights American gun violence. With most films, there is some hope for redemption. This seems to elude most of the characters here. The devil has made the acquaintance of the two brothers long before they are dead.

1.A character study, a crime drama? The interplay of the two?

2.The title, getting to Heaven before the Devil knows you’re dead? The tone of the title?

3.New York City, the Manhattan buildings, Westchester, the mall, the shops? Homes, the diamond district, the cemetery? The musical score?

4.The complexity of the structure: the titles, the narrative going back and forth, heightening the drama, giving the background stories of the characters, fuller details of the incidents? Audience knowledge, clues, filling out the detail, further complexity? The overall dramatic effect?

5.The introduction to Andy and Gina, the sexual sequence, Gina and her behaviour, Andy, fat, his behaviour, reaction? The discussions about Rio? The possibilities for the future? The contrast with Hank, gaunt, his family, the break-up with Martha, her bitterness, his love for his daughter, his not paying, lateness, his daughter seeing him as a loser, seeing her in the concert, the applause, her wanting to see The Lion King, his not being able to pay, her reaction? The affair with Gina? Loving her?

6.The robbery itself: Bobby, the mask, tone, Nanette’s reaction, her getting the gun, shooting Bobby, his shooting Nanette? Her wound, going to the hospital, the life support system, her death? Bobby’s death and crashing out of the shop? Hank and his taking off, phoning Andy?

7.The effect of going back in time, the days before the heist, afterwards, before the funeral? The filling out of the characters of Andy and Hank, Charlie? Gina?

8.The portrait of Andy: large, early forties, self-confident, yet bitter about the past, the older son, his dislike of his father? His work? Embezzling the money? His relationship with Gina, sexual encounters, the plan, Rio? Going to the dealer, paying off the dealer with the embezzled money? The injections? Telling Hank about the robbery, persuading him? The revelation that it was their parents’ shop? The allegedly easy plan? His visiting the old dealer in the diamond district, leaving his card?

9.The portrait of Hank, the loser, life, pampered baby of the family? The tense relationship with Martha, his daughter? Andy’s proposal, his being pressurised, the money situation? His inability to do the job by himself, going to see Bobby, hiring the car, picking up Bobby, the encounter with the girlfriend, the playing of the CDs, leaving it in the car, the tension about retrieving it? The old lady in the shop – and it being his mother? His taking off?

10.Charlie, his birthday, his eyes, the test, his doing well, dropping off Nanette, going to the police station, the return, the grim crime scene, his trying to get information from the police?

11.Andy and his drugs, his finally shooting the dealer? Hank and the encounter with Dex, the threats, the blackmail? His asking Martha for money and her reaction? Andy confronting Dex, shooting him, his attempt to shoot Hank, the girl shooting him? Going to the hospital?

12.Bobby, the hoodlum, his type, deciding to do the robbery, the robbery itself, his verbal violence, his death? Dex, tough, his sister, the baby? Wanting to do the best by her? His threats, his death?

13.The funeral, the family grief, the wake, Hank going out, ringing Gina?

14.The office, the calls to Andy, Andy taking the money, packing, buying the plane ticket?

15.Gina, her life, relationship with both brothers, being sexually used? Supportive of Charlie? With Hank, with Andy? Her decision, the discussion about Rio? Waiting to give Andy the information about the office, going?

16.Charlie and the pressure on Andy, the apology after the funeral, the depth of Charlie’s words, Andy refusing to accept? Andy urging him to make a decision about Nanette and the life support?

17.Charlie and his visit to the diamond district, the card, his reaction to the news about Andy, following in the car, seeing everything, seeing Hank run away, Andy’s body, going to the hospital, his skills in keeping the system going and smothering Andy? Walking away?

18.A film of evil, betrayal, out of the depths – but no hope or redemption?