Cassandra's Dream

With Cassandra's Dream, Woody Allen revisits the thematic territory of 2005’s Match Point. Whereas the latter film was critically well-received this one was generally scorned. For my money  however this is a somewhat more deserving film.

The title, which refers to the boat belonging to brothers, Ian and Terry (Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell), both of whom are floundering in life. Ian is desperate to be a high-flying businessman, Terry is drowning in gambling debts. When their wealthy uncle, Howard (Tom Wilkinson), offers them substantial financial rewards to eliminate a former colleague of his they take the opportunity but Terry melts into quagmire of guilt.

One of the most impressive things about Allen’s output, although strictly speaking extra-filmic is his ability to re-shape his material into new forms. Here he eschews all comedy, his strong suit needless to say, and sets out to do a straight tragedy. If you didn’t know that the director was Allen you’d not be likely to recognise his hand as his familiar style and well-heeled settings are absent (and given that this is so familiar it is somewhat of a relief).  Ian and Terry are working class Londoners and if Terry is given to guilt, it is not of the Jewish variety. Whilst the film is perhaps a little too drawn out in the latter stages and the fight between the two brothers at the end is particularly poorly executed, for the most part Allen fashions a solid hook onto which to hang his morality play.

Ewan McGregor, as always, holds the film together with the unpretentiousness of his performance and whilst Colin Farrell’s eyebrows are his most impressive contribution, he at least doesn’t harm his part. Cassandra's Dream is far from Allen’s best work but at least from his followers he deserves some recognition for pushing his envelope into dramatically more serious fare.

 

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