On general release from Fri 6 Apr
Morten Tyldum / Norway/Germany / 2011 / 100mins
Whether it’s celebrities with secret girlfriends (Ryan Giggs), politicians with false expense claims (Lord Hanningfield) or simply the difference between your work and home persona, millions of people create a front to protect themselves from varying degrees of discomfort. In Morten Tyldum’s reworking of Jo Nesbo’s novel, Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie), a businessman come art thief struggles to contain his alter-ego after his latest target, Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), turns out to be ex-military.
After the successful film franchises of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy, the continued adaptation of popular Scandinavian thrillers was imminent. Nesbo’s narrative however offers greater depth. Money’s corruptive power, present in Larsson’s work, is constantly referenced at both the personal level (Brown’s illegal income stream) and the corporate level (Greve’s previous employers). But while the superficial argument of wealth’s ability to bring happiness is almost toted as a guiding ideology, it’s simultaneously castigated by the ensuing destruction, emphasising a reprehensible attitude towards those blind to their inevitable consequences (Wall Street). In using the story’s nefarious protagonist as a measure, the key elements of the carnage following high finance (without the need to hide behind a façade) shine through. So although the short-term benefits seem enticing, sustaining the veneer is near impossible and when it cracks, so too will everything else.