The Lives of Others director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck returns to cinema screens with his first US feature (and follow up to his Oscar-winning debut) – the Johnny Depp/Angelina Jolie headlining romantic thriller, The Tourist.
In a plot which bears more than a passing resemblance to this summer’s underperformer Knight and Day, The Tourist finds a heavier-than-usual Depp playing against type as a mild-mannered American maths teacher who meets a mysterious (is there any other type in this kind of film?) English beauty (played by Jolie), in a seemingly chance encounter on a train to Venice. We’re soon thrust into a world of espionage when it’s revealed that she is using her potential love interest as a decoy to throw the British secret service off her trail as she searches for her lover who has gone AWOL, partly due to owing a ridiculous amount of moolah to a Russian gangster (whose henchmen all bear an identical, cartoon-like appearance).
Traditionally, foreign filmmakers have experienced mixed levels of success when Hollywood comes-a-knocking. While some manage to thrive by retaining the sensibilities which made them unique (a recent example being Guillermo del Toro), others fail, sometimes by abandoning that very style of filmmaking which earned them acclaim in the first place. Sadly, von Donnersmarck falls into the latter with his film. Having made the suspenseful, sobering and incredibly moving communist-era character piece The Lives of Others, his attempts at creating a purposely old-fashioned crowd-pleaser fail miserably here.
The film wants desperately to be a quirky, romantic euro crime caper but suffers from a plot full of gaping holes, one horrible cliché after another, unmemorable and lazy dialogue (even more shocking when you realise that two of the three writers are Academy award winners!) and just a general lack of effort from all concerned. Presented with characters we’re expected to connect with, they never manage to gain our sympathy and frankly, are too dull to care about anyway, which renders any kind of emotional investment in them obsolete.
Jolie has zero chemistry with her co-star and in fact, lacks any discernible charisma in general. You almost get the impression that the director may have been aware of this as he feels the need to literally make sure that every male in shot turns his head as Jolie strolls past, in a clumsy attempt of try and illustrate how amazing she is. Depp too has very little to offer in terms of screen presence. He was probably grateful that he could make a film on the same continent in which he resides, but that really isn’t an excuse to phone it in. Once upon a time in his earlier career, a role like this would have been completely off his radar (and quite rightly so). None of the esteemed supporting players bring anything memorable to their roles either, and Rufus Sewell is cast in what has to be one of the most thankless roles in the entire history of cinema. Seriously, this guy must be desperately in need of exposure or money (or both).
It’s a horribly contrived tale with a twist ending which personally came as a big surprise to me, as I never believed the makers would seriously give credence to what they ended of constructing. It’s the kind of conclusion which hinges on all the plot pieces of the puzzle conveniently fitting together, requiring the characters to start acting in a completely alien and nonsensical way to ensure this, without any regard to maintaining continuity. The end doesn’t make one bit of sense and none of those essential narrative telltale signs and clues are planted in the audience minds throughout, meaning you’re left scratching your head and in a state of bewilderment as to how it could all possibly have come together in the way it does.
It’s likely that von Donnersmarck had to content with the usual problems associated with the politics of helming a first-time US studio feature – an issue which plagued his fellow countrymen Oliver Hirschbiegel’s ill-received US debut, The Invasion. It’s just a shame that there’s a real lack of any craftsmanship on display too.
On the evidence of The Tourist, the director may find himself on various studios’ wish lists to direct the next Kate Hudson/Matthew McConaughey action rom-com. I’m sure for a filmmaker who showed so much promise on his home turf, this is far from what he envisioned.
