Movie Review: The Ghost Writer

– John DeCarli

Nearly tight as a drum in its staging and execution, The Ghost Writer is a simple and effective thriller. It feels as clean and pure as the rain constantly streaking the windows of the Martha’s Vineyard estate where much of it is set. Director Roman Polanski, too wise to muddy the film with needless complications, focuses instead on ratcheting up the suspense, keeping the story moving and the audience engaged. This formalistic approach makes the film seem a little scant in hindsight, but orchestrating suspense is not easy and Polanski proves he’s a master of the genre. He’s traded the possibility of keeping the audience ruminating for days for the chance to control its attention for a few hours.

The film centers around a ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) charged with editing a controversial ex-Prime Minister’s autobiography after the first writer’s body washes up onshore under mysterious circumstances. The character is unnamed, called simply a “ghost.” His job requires that he remain invisible and detached but he soon finds himself very much involved. The Ghost gets the feeling that the project will be the death of him, and each development makes it harder for him to work; the manuscript, so long and boring it puts him to sleep, is kept under lock and key and the publishers want a new draft turned around quickly. When the news breaks that the ex-prime minister (Adam Lang, played by Pierce Brosnan) is under investigation for the unlawful torture of suspected terrorists, helicopters, TV cameras and angry protesters descend upon Martha’s Vineyard. Amid the confusion, the Ghost finds inconsistencies in Lang’s story and, with the help of his predecessor’s notes, begins to dig deeper.

In many ways, the character of the embattled Prime Minister buoys the film, and Polanski is aided greatly by a terrific turn from Brosnan. The rest of the cast (save for Kim Cattrall and her dreadful British accent) is strong, but Brosnan’s Lang is both charismatic and cagey, someone we recognize from his autobiography’s anecdotes yet who remains a mystery. Polanski and his actor allow us to understand the character so well thanks to a few small, but key, touches. As a result, Adam Lang’s tendencies, tics, tantrums and fruit and vegetable smoothies feel real and believable. As Lang’s past becomes clearer (then questioned, then clearer still), the perception we have of him doesn’t change, it deepens.

Hitchcock’s ghost looms large in The Ghost Writer. Any confident suspense film might be called “Hitchcockian,” but Polanski’s rhythm, pacing and feel for how and when to dole out information particularly warrant the term. The climax, for example, is vintage Hitchcock. The Ghost discovers that the key to the secret was in front of him all along. Of course it was. The revelation is followed by a nimble long-take of a note bearing the secret being passed up to its recipient. The contents of the note are both crucially important to the plot and entirely trivial to the film, but the stylish ending feels pitch-perfect. You might not remember The Ghost Writer long after the slick black-and-white end title rolls over the dramatic Bernard Hermann-esque score, but it should have you smiling.

Polanski’s well-publicized legal problems mean that The Ghost Writer could be his swan song. Critics combing the film for allusions to the situation or hints into the man’s psyche may find some fodder, but they’re more likely to find some of the director’s familiar themes: paranoia, isolation and an undercurrent of dark humor. The film is more interesting than simply as an entry in Polanski’s oeuvre and as a controlled and disciplined genre film. It is a showcase of a director who knows how to keep an audience in his grasp. It’s not for nothing that the film centers around writing, around the creation of a seemingly banal work that holds a secret. For a director who’s always merited a second look, it seems a fitting capstone to a brilliant career.

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