“Breaking and Entering”
Director Anthony Minghella
Weinstein Company
“Breaking and Entering,” written and directed by Anthony Minghella, has everything going for it: a highly touted and visionary director, an interesting and provocative script and two remarkably versatile leading ladies. But how does one view ““ and truly appreciate ““ a film when it is nearly impossible to empathize with the main character?
The main character in this case is Will (Jude Law). Will is a successful architect on the verge of a career-defining project in a dodgy section of northern London called King’s Cross. While Will’s professional life takes a major turn, his personal life seems as stable as ever. He lives with his longtime partner, Liv (Robin Wright Penn), and her autistic teenage daughter Beatrice (Poppy Rogers).
However, when Will’s new office in King’s Cross is broken into by a young Bosnian refugee ““ not once, but twice ““ his chase to find the culprit leads him to an unexpected path of internal reevaluation and self-discovery in the comfort of the criminal’s mother Amira (Juliette Binoche).
Minghella creates two multi-layered and fascinating characters in Liv, a struggling, lonely, hard-working mother, and Amira, an equally lonely and confused yet optimistic foreigner simply trying to make a good life for herself and her child. Wright Penn and Binoche’s talents bring these characters from page to screen effortlessly.
Binoche’s understated yet heart-wrenching performance lifts the entire movie.
However, it is the focus of the story, Will, whose character leaves something to be desired.
Jude Law does a fine job in his performance, but as Will leaves behind his frustrated and increasingly depressed partner for a brief and loveless affair with the vulnerable Amira, it becomes very difficult to emotionally invest in or care about him.
In the end, Will does the supposedly right thing and all his damage is repaired.
But his character’s questionable remorse bears the question: Once the crime is committed, can it ever truly become a case of forgive and forget?
“Breaking and Entering” has the makings of a great movie, but Will is simply too easy to forget.