Allgemeine Filmdiskussion

Chester Mc Farland, a clever swindler and defrauder, is travelling in Greece with his wife Colette. They are about to arrive in Athens and settle into The King's Palace.
Another American also present in Athens at the same time is Rydal Keener. He is spending several months in Europe on what money he inherited from his grandmother.
It is when Rydal sees Chester at the Benaki Museum for the first time that his resemblance to Rydal's father's twin brother strikes him. Rydal then decides to keep an eye on Chester. A few days later, Chester gets the unpleasant visit of a Greek police officer who informs him that he is working in co-operation with the American authorities. The latter are apparently more and more interested in Chester's shady past. Realising that he may well be arrested and extradited, Chester hits the policeman who then stumbles and falls, banging his head against the bathtub. A fatal blow. Chester immediately understands that he must hide the body in a small store-room down the corridor. It is at the precise moment when Chester is dragging the corps in the corridor that Rydal appears on the landing and witnesses Chester's act. Will Rydal help or blackmail Chester?
As good as "Strangers on a train" or the Ripley series by the same author.

Patricia Highsmith – The Two Faces of January.

(First published 1964. Using Heinemann 1968 edition)

Colette – p. 3 (The Blake Lively role)
Colette – it was a name she had chosen for herself at the age of fourteen, in preference to Elizabeth – was twenty-five years old, five feet three, with reddish light-brown hair, full lips, a perfectly straight nose lightly sprinkled with freckles, and quite arrestingly pretty dark-blue, almost lavender, eyes. Her eyes looked widely and straightforwardly at everything and everyone, like the eyes of a curious, intelligent and still learning child. Men whom she looked at usually felt transfixed and fascinated by her gaze; there was something speculative in it,and nearly every man, whatever his age, thought, “She looks as if she's falling in love with me. Could it be?” Most women thought her expression and even Colette herself rather naïve, too naïve to be dangerous; which was fortunate, because otherwise women might have been jealous or suspicious of her attractiveness. She had been married to Chester just a little more than a year, and she had met him by answering an advertisement he put in the Times for a part-time secretary and typist.

Chester – p. 8 (The Viggo role)
It always gave him a little throb of mental pain, a small shock of embarrassment such as he felt when a doctor asked him to strip, whenever he pushed his passport over a hotel counter or had it taken from his hand by an official inspector. Chester Crighton MacFarland, five feet eleven, born in 1922 in Sacramento, California, no distinguishing marks, wife Elizabeth Talbott Macfarland. It was all so naked. Worst of all, his photograph, so untypically for a passport photograph, was a very good likeness, showing receding brown hair, aggressive jaw, good-sized nose, a rather stubborn, thin-lipped mouth with a moustache above it – an excellent portrait of him, depicting all but the colour of his blue, staring eyes and the ruddiness of his cheeks.

Rydal – p. 9 (the Oscar Isaac role)
… a young American named Rydal Keener was pressing the button for an elevator on the fourth floor. He was a slender, dark-haired young man, quiet and slow in movement. There was an air of melancholy about him, melancholy turned outward rather than inward, as if he brooded not on his own problems but the world's. His dark eyes seemed to see and to think about whatever they looked at. He appeared also very poised, not at all concerned with what anybody thought of him. His insouciance was often taken for arrogance. It did not go with the worn shoes and overcoat he had on now, but his bearing was so confident that his clothes were the last thing people noticed about him, if they noticed them at all.

W&F: It sounds like it’s going to be tough to find a project as satisfying as this one. (talking about Drive)
HA: There’s a passion project I’m working on, a Patricia Highsmith novel called “The Two Faces of January.” I’m adapting and planning to direct it as well. I learned so much and it was so great to work with a director and learn to trust the actors and how integral they are to the process. James Salis, who wrote Drive, wrote a fantastic essay about Patricia Highsmith. So it comes full circle. He’s one of the great American writers not enough people know about.
W&F: Is Viggo Mortenson still playing the lead role?
HA: Yes. And after learning how important the actors are to the scripting process … Viggo is very busy. My plan is to chase Viggo around the globe to get his input.

1962. A glamorous American couple, the charismatic Chester MacFarland (Mortensen) and his alluring younger wife Colette (Dunst), arrive in Athens by boat via the Corinthian Canal. While sightseeing at the Acropolis they encounter Rydal (Isaac), a young, Greek-speaking American who is working as a tour guide, scamming tourists on the side. Drawn to Colette's beauty and impressed by Chester's wealth and sophistication, Rydal gladly accepts their invitation to dinner.

However, all is not as it seems with the MacFarlands and Chester's affable exterior hides darker secrets. When Rydal visits the couple at their exclusive hotel, Chester presses him to help move the body of a seemingly unconscious man who he claims attacked him. In the moment, Rydal agrees but as events take a more sinister turn he finds himself compromised and unable to pull himself free. His increasing infatuation with the vulnerable and responsive Colette gives rise to Chester's jealousy and paranoia, leading to a tense and dangerous battle of wits between the two men. Their journey takes them from Greece to Turkey, and to a dramatic finale played out in the back alleys of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar.

Das Ehepaar Colette (Kirsten Dunst) und Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) treffen in Griechenland auf den jungen Reiseführer Rydal (Oscar Isaac). Rydal erkennt in Chester nicht nur so etwas wie eine Vaterfigur, sondern fühlt sich auch sofort zu Colette hingezogen. Als Chester in Notwehr einen Privatdetektiv ermordet, beginnt eine Flucht durch Griechenland. Um an neue Pässe zu kommen, sind Chester und Colette auf Rydals Hilfe angewiesen. Während der folgenden Tage spitzt sich die Lage zwischen dem Trio zu, als die dunklen Geheimnisse der MacFarlands ans Licht kommen und Rydal eine immer engere Beziehung zu Colette aufbaut. Und mit jedem Tag zeigt der auf den ersten Blick so erfolgreiche und stilvolle Chester mehr und mehr sein wahres Gesicht... Was Regisseur Hossein Amini mit Die zwei Gesichter des Januars abliefert, ist im wahrsten Sinne schwere Kost. Nicht wegen der Komplexität der Handlung, die im Grunde auf einen Bierdeckel passt, es ist die Mühe, diesen Film richtig einzuordnen und zu bewerten. Mit Dunst, Mortensen und Isaac in den drei Hauptrollen ist Amini eine interessante und spannende Besetzung gelungen. Die drei sind es auch, die den Film hauptsächlich tragen und die Spannung aufbauen, was ohne ihr souveränes Schauspiel nicht möglich wäre. Auf viel mehr kann sich Die zwei Gesichter des Januars aber auch nicht verlassen, denn die Story ist in ihrer Erzählweise nicht packend genug, um den Zuschauer von Anfang bis Ende bei Laune zu halten. Mit 96 Minuten ist Die zwei Gesichter des Januars vor allem nicht besonders lang, bietet aber diverse storyseitige Längen, die dem Zuschauer einiges abverlangen und das Gefühl aufkommen lassen, einen Film jenseits der zwei Stunden zu sehen. Das Problem dürfte hier sein, dass es sich bei Die zwei Gesichter des Januars gefühlt um einen typischen Wettbewerb-Beitrag handeln könnte. Ein Film, der mit Gewalt intellektuell sein will, um Eindruck zu schinden, ohne dass viel dabei für den Zuschauer herumkommt. Ja, es ist ein toll gespieltes Charakterdrama, aber wirklich geben tut einem der Film leider nichts. Zu belanglos und ohne Bedeutung ist das, was der Zuschauer letztlich zu sehen bekommt. Natürlich erfüllt auch ein Actionfilm keine tiefe Bedeutung, aber der befriedigt wenigstens ein Bedürfnis nach Spaß. Deswegen fällt die Kritik auch dürftig aus und so bleibt am Ende von Die zwei Gesichter des Januars nur das traurige Fazit, dass nichts hängenbleibt. Schade, wenn man nur das über einen Film sagen kann. Gerade in Hinblick auf die Besetzung, die uns zu den 2 Punkten animiert, ziehen wir dieses Fazit nur ungern, denn jeder Schauspieler macht einen guten Job, aber manchmal ist das einfach nicht genug. schrieb: