Movies - Match Point

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	Movies - Match Point

Match Point is a 2005 film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, and Matthew Goode. Rhys-Meyers plays Chris Wilton, a tennis pro seeking a new direction for his life, who seems to find it all (friendship, a new career, love) when he meets the members of a wealthy British family. Mortimer and Goode play siblings in the family, and Johansson plays a struggling actress dating Goode's character.

The film is the first of Allen's films to be shot in England, and his first film since Love and Death
to be entirely shot outside of the United States.

Allen has been nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay. The film was also nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, for the film, Allen's writing and directing, and Johansson's performance. The nominations marked the first for Allen since his 1997 film Deconstructing Harry
.

The story is about the role that luck plays in determining everyone's destiny, as protagonist Chris Wilton notes in an opening voice-over:

The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't and you lose.

Plot

After realizing that he does not have what it takes to become a successful professional tennis player, Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) takes a job as a tennis coach at an exclusive English country club. He befriends Tom (Matthew Goode), a rich young playboy, and he begins a somewhat passionless relationship with Tom's sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer), whom he describes as "sweet." They are both members of the wealthy Hewett family, headed by father Alec (played by Brian Cox) and mother Eleanor (Penelope Wilton).

Wilton is immediately drawn to Tom's fiancée, actress Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson), as she is to him. The two act on this mutual attraction, though Nola later tells him nothing can come of it.

Some time later, Chris has married Chloe, with a promising career as a businessman in her father's firm. After discovering that Tom and Nola have broken up, he attempts to locate her and finally bumps into her at Tate Modern. He begins a clandestine affair with her; one that soon leads to Nola's news that she is pregnant. While his passion for Nola remains strong, his whole life is so dependent upon the wealthy family that has taken him under their wing, that for a while he tries to have it all -- a situation that Nola is increasingly unable to tolerate. Nola demands that he talks to Chloe about the situation and tells Chris that if he doesn't talk to Chloe, she will.

Chris feels cornered into a desperate situation -- which includes a close call during which Nola almost reveals their affair. After discussing the matter with a trusted old friend, he opts for his comfortable life with Chloe and, in turn, decides to kill Nola.

At this point, a film that was mostly a drama about Chris and his relationships with and dependencies on the Hewett family becomes a thriller.

His plan is to make Nola's death look like a drug-related crime -- which leads him to also target Nola's neighbor (played by Margaret Tyzack). Surreptitiously, he takes a shotgun from his father-in-law's household. He leaves work, pretending to be going out to play tennis, but actually taking the disassembled shotgun in a large sports bag. After gaining entry to the elderly landlady's apartment, he assembles the shotgun while she is in another room, kills her in cold blood, and takes her medication and jewelry -- among other possessions -- putting them all in his bag. Then, he waits for Nola arrive from work and kills her on the landing just outside her apartment -- making it appear that she has disturbed the murderer's getaway.

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Movies - Match Point

Plot

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