Allen back with an ace

Match Point (2005)
DreamWorks presents a Woody Allen film, starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Written by Allen. 124m. R for sexuality.

4 stars

Are we completely subjugated to whims of luck and fate? Woody Allen asks rhetorically at the onset of “Match Point,” like he was introducing a 1940s film noir instead of one of his usual character-driven dramatic pieces.

But that’s not the only aspect we recognize as askew in the film, Allen’s 36th as writer and director. Immediately we’re certain that it won’t be another light-hearted addition to Allen’s recent spate, but rather one that evokes (and provokes) comparisons to his more intriguing classics.

In the heart of London, not the well-treaded sidewalks of Manhattan, former second-tier tennis star Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) has found employment as a teaching instructor at a restricted club. He encounters Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), a good-natured, but directionless, heir to a large fortune who bides his time by indulging his most potent desires.

Much to the dismay of his doting mother, one of Tom’s carnal pleasures is Nola (Scarlett Johansson), a habitually out-of-work American actress lodging temporarily in London. In the noir world, Nola is the femme fatale whose unbridled sexuality inspires men to make decisions not guided by their brains.

In spite of her grand failures, Nola exudes passion in a way Tom’s sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer) cannot. And while Chris, who desires greatly to move above his station, feels an instant attraction to Nola, he knows the path of less resistance runs through the Hewett household.

Infidelity is no stranger to Allen’s characters; he’s catalogued both the sardonic and the disheartening types in his films. Yet the depth of Chris and Nola’s alternating obsessions for each other is unrivaled (although it hinted of Michael Caine’s longing for Barbara Hershey in “Hannah and Her Sisters.”) It’s first exhilarating, when the two sneak off to steal a passionate kiss in the English countryside. But, like a noir, their relationship is getting bleaker by the moment.

There’s certain to be a messy collision, and we want to warn these interlopers, but we don’t. First, it’s because we’re aware it’s only a movie. Second, it’s because we honestly want to see what becomes of the wreckage.

Chris Wilton’s on-screen predecessor is not a typically redeemable Allen-type, but rather a man like Judah Rosenthal from “Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Judah can’t leave his wife for his mistress because he’s worried about ruining his good standing as a respected ophthalmologist. But he claims he doesn’t break the marriage up because of what it would do to his wife, just as Chris says he can’t leave Chloe because the unhappy couple is trying so desperately to start a family.

Both are unquestionably spineless. While Judah considered God’s role in a seemingly godless world, Chris isn’t tethered to bigger questions of morality. In fact, he seems to exist outside conventional understandings of morality, which makes his character simultaneously alluring and unsettling.

Allen has rarely cow-towed to convention. His more mainstream efforts are still inexcusably presented on his terms. Each annual installment is like an adventure in genre-hopping: a bit of slapstick here, a dash of biopic there. He’s not obligated to present a pat ending, which makes the final half-hour of “Match Point” riveting.

If you’re drawn to Allen’s films each year, “Match Point” will provide a resurgence of spirit. Each Allen film of the 21st century has had at least a kernel of worth, but this film is more focused, tauter and more powerful than any work since “Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

“Match Point” is the first Allen film I can recall where there is no ideological stand-in for the director himself. Now 70 years old, he’s varied the size of his roles in more recent works. Sometimes, as in “Melinda and Melinda” and “Celebrity,” we’re offered other actors who bear his neuroses and provide his spiritual and philosophical meltdowns.

The truth is Allen films succeed almost every time because of the strength of the characters. He exists amongst an elite canon of male writers who can write an entire script around a believable and dynamic female character. I don’t mind if he decides to write a menschy lead into future installments; as long as they are well designed as “Match Point,” I’ll be there.