The actress Kim Cattrall, a.k.a. Samantha in 'Sex in the City', was on BBC Breakfast News yesterday plugging her latest role in Noel Coward's 'Private Lives'. She was commended (slightly patronizingly I thought) for her British accent by the presenters and she acknowledged that she had had a voice coach for the role and for her role in Roman Polanski's latest film 'Ghost Writer', as well. It seemed odd to me that she added the last fact almost as an afterthought. The presenters touched lightly on the film itself and appeared to be more interested in the fact that Polanski had done most of the post-production editing whilst under house arrest in Switzerland. Is the fact that Polanski is currently awaiting extradition to the U.S. for a crime he was convicted of in 1978 going to overshadow the 'Ghost Writer'?
I saw the film in Gdansk and there wasn't a vacant seat to be found. My fellow theatre-goers sat in total silence throughout, evidently enjoying the film as much as I was. 'Ghost Writer' is an engaging film. It's full of the suspense which you would expect to find in a political thriller and your attention is grabbed from the start. Ewan McGregor's performance is very believable as the slightly naive 'ghost' who is hired by Pierce Brosnan's character, a former British Prime Minister who is accused of war crimes - quite a timely subject if we think of Tony Blair's resent public grilling over Britain's part in the Iraq war. This is a thriller laced with atmosphere, from the muted colours and tones to the musical score. Robert Harris's dialogue is sharp and all the better for it's lack of expletives and profanities.
Whatever we may think of Polanski the 'man', this film deserves to be judged on it's merits, the fine performances from it's actors and the superior script. I'm sure that it's no coincidence the 'Ghost Writer' opened in Poland before the U.K. and the U.S. and it will be interesting to see how it is received when it does open there.
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