"Cassandra's Dream" [2007] explores a favorite Woody Allen conundrum: whether there really exists a moral line that when crossed causes the transgressor to suffer intolerable pangs of guilt - and, if so, whether those pangs originate from a watchful Judeo-Christian God, the fateful Furies of classic tragedy, or simply the chance structure of an individual psyche.
The film presents us with two such transgressors, the brothers Ian and Terry Blaine (Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell), who for various reasons agree to commit a murder of convenience against a man they know only as a threat to their rich Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson), whose goodwill and largess they covet. One brother - good looking, smooth talking Ian - seems quite capable of rationalizing the crime and reaping its benefits, which for him include the funding of his latest get-rich-quick scheme and the successful wooing of a beautiful aspiring actress (Hayley Atwell) he must social climb to attain. But the other brother underachieving, goodhearted Terry motivated by huge gambling debts, a girl friend with domestic inclinations, and a weak mind made even weaker by a growing addiction to alcohol and painkillers, begins to unravel almost as soon as the murder is committed.
As Terry's guilt-ridden torment begins to threaten both Ian and Uncle Howard with exposure, Uncle Howard the ultimate amoral sleaze ball proposes that Ian knock off his brother too. Thus the stakes in the crossing-the-line plot are raised to the ultimate Biblical crime: fratricide. Can Ian, having gone a long way down the slippery slope to utter nihilism, complete the job? That is the last moral question Allen raises in "Cassandra's Dream," and I'll leave it to his small cadre of faithful viewers to find out the answer for themselves.
I will, however, divulge the verbal playfulness in the film's title. On a literal level, "Cassandra's Dream" is the name the brothers give a sailboat they purchase in the film's opening sequence. It is named in honor of a 60-1 shot that came through for Terry during his initial lucky streak at the dog races. Symbolically and, some might say, heavy-handedly the sailboat Cassandra's Dream evokes the world of Greek tragedy and specifically Homer's Cassandra, daughter of King Priam of Troy, who is blessed/cursed by Apollo with the gift of prophecy that no one heeds. Cassandra foresees the tragic doom of Troy but it powerless to stop it.
Allen's film has a similar sense of inexorable doom, and the sailboat that symbolizes tragic vision also frames the film's action physically in its opening, central turning point, and climactic scenes. Since the boat was acquired by seeming "luck," yet, like Oedipus' crown, is really a harbinger of unforeseen but quickly arriving tragic fate, it neatly encapsulates the film's central theme as well. On top of this is a broader play on the metaphorical use of ships to express luck, good or ill. Ian ironically assumes that his "ship has finally come in," but as his father (like a one-man Greek chorus) reminds him: "The only ship certain to come in has black sails."
Like most of Allen's films in the past decade, "Cassandra's Dream" reworks territory familiar to those who have followed his career since the beginning. Many of the same moral issues were raised and explored in one of Allen's greatest films, "Crimes and Misdemeanors," whose title in turn revealed the literary sources of the theme: Dostoyevski's "Crime and Punishment." Allusions to Greek myth and tragedy were extensively laced albeit comically throughout "Mighty Aphrodite" and in the opening of Allen's preceding film, "Scoop." "Cassandra's Dream" is not as good as any of these or perhaps not even as good as the last example of "serious Woody," "Match Point," but it's not a bad film. Its plot has a stark, stage-like melodramatic quality that is compelling even if entirely humorless and mostly predictable. The pairing of two fine young actors like Farrell and McGregor creates a fascinating chemistry and the rest of the cast, particularly Wilkinson and the gorgeous Atwell, has its moments. Vilmos Zsigmund's cinematography, highlighting London and the English countryside, is stunning, and Philip Glass's score adds a powerful emotional dimension as well.
I've gone back and forth on my feelings about this latest effort from Allen, but I've finally veered toward a qualified thumbs up. For devotees of "funny Woody," I'd suggest a pass, but his die hard fans of whom I am certainly one will find much of interest in "Cassandra's Dream."
The film presents us with two such transgressors, the brothers Ian and Terry Blaine (Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell), who for various reasons agree to commit a murder of convenience against a man they know only as a threat to their rich Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson), whose goodwill and largess they covet. One brother - good looking, smooth talking Ian - seems quite capable of rationalizing the crime and reaping its benefits, which for him include the funding of his latest get-rich-quick scheme and the successful wooing of a beautiful aspiring actress (Hayley Atwell) he must social climb to attain. But the other brother underachieving, goodhearted Terry motivated by huge gambling debts, a girl friend with domestic inclinations, and a weak mind made even weaker by a growing addiction to alcohol and painkillers, begins to unravel almost as soon as the murder is committed.
As Terry's guilt-ridden torment begins to threaten both Ian and Uncle Howard with exposure, Uncle Howard the ultimate amoral sleaze ball proposes that Ian knock off his brother too. Thus the stakes in the crossing-the-line plot are raised to the ultimate Biblical crime: fratricide. Can Ian, having gone a long way down the slippery slope to utter nihilism, complete the job? That is the last moral question Allen raises in "Cassandra's Dream," and I'll leave it to his small cadre of faithful viewers to find out the answer for themselves.
I will, however, divulge the verbal playfulness in the film's title. On a literal level, "Cassandra's Dream" is the name the brothers give a sailboat they purchase in the film's opening sequence. It is named in honor of a 60-1 shot that came through for Terry during his initial lucky streak at the dog races. Symbolically and, some might say, heavy-handedly the sailboat Cassandra's Dream evokes the world of Greek tragedy and specifically Homer's Cassandra, daughter of King Priam of Troy, who is blessed/cursed by Apollo with the gift of prophecy that no one heeds. Cassandra foresees the tragic doom of Troy but it powerless to stop it.
Allen's film has a similar sense of inexorable doom, and the sailboat that symbolizes tragic vision also frames the film's action physically in its opening, central turning point, and climactic scenes. Since the boat was acquired by seeming "luck," yet, like Oedipus' crown, is really a harbinger of unforeseen but quickly arriving tragic fate, it neatly encapsulates the film's central theme as well. On top of this is a broader play on the metaphorical use of ships to express luck, good or ill. Ian ironically assumes that his "ship has finally come in," but as his father (like a one-man Greek chorus) reminds him: "The only ship certain to come in has black sails."
Like most of Allen's films in the past decade, "Cassandra's Dream" reworks territory familiar to those who have followed his career since the beginning. Many of the same moral issues were raised and explored in one of Allen's greatest films, "Crimes and Misdemeanors," whose title in turn revealed the literary sources of the theme: Dostoyevski's "Crime and Punishment." Allusions to Greek myth and tragedy were extensively laced albeit comically throughout "Mighty Aphrodite" and in the opening of Allen's preceding film, "Scoop." "Cassandra's Dream" is not as good as any of these or perhaps not even as good as the last example of "serious Woody," "Match Point," but it's not a bad film. Its plot has a stark, stage-like melodramatic quality that is compelling even if entirely humorless and mostly predictable. The pairing of two fine young actors like Farrell and McGregor creates a fascinating chemistry and the rest of the cast, particularly Wilkinson and the gorgeous Atwell, has its moments. Vilmos Zsigmund's cinematography, highlighting London and the English countryside, is stunning, and Philip Glass's score adds a powerful emotional dimension as well.
I've gone back and forth on my feelings about this latest effort from Allen, but I've finally veered toward a qualified thumbs up. For devotees of "funny Woody," I'd suggest a pass, but his die hard fans of whom I am certainly one will find much of interest in "Cassandra's Dream."