Cassandra's Dream

Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Woody Allen has crossed over into the dark side. Once a writer and director of comedies, he now pens bleak, Shakespearean-like tragedies. Cassandra’s Dream, much in the same vein as the melodramatic Match Point, darkly deals with morality issues and the inevitable downfall of its main characters. With enough metaphors, ironies, foreshadowing and symbolism to fill a drama textbook, Allen weaves his tale of two brothers who become locked into an inescapable fate.

Ian (Ewan McGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell) are working class Londoners who dream of a better life. The ambitious Ian toils away in his father’s restaurant but longs to jump start a career of his own by investing in California realty. Terry is a mechanic with a live-in girlfriend who tries to score extra cash by gambling. The movie begins right as things are looking up for the brothers. Fresh off a lucky win at the dog races, Terry buys a small yacht with his earnings. It reminds the brothers of their fun childhood together and they name the boat Cassandra’s Dream, after the winning dog. Their happiness is short-lived, however, as is Terry’s luck.

He finds himself $180,000 in debt right around the time Ian meets a beautiful young actress. While one brother is desperate to get out of debt, the other is desperate to impress his new lover with money and business ventures. When their rich Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) comes to town, they decide to ask for him for a generous loan. But Uncle Howard is in a need of a favor too. It turns out Howard is under criminal investigation for shady business practices and he wants them to off one of his snitching colleagues. At first a shocked Terry and Ian refuse, but their dire circumstances soon have them reconsidering. The outcome of the crime leads the brothers down diverging paths and ultimately turns them against one another.

McGregor’s Ian is wholly unlikable; a smug, selfish character that seems to lack a moral compass and any kind of common sense. He likes to think of himself as the more level-headed, put-together brother, but his life is all about posing as someone he’s not. Dark intentions are bubbling just below his surface from the start. His infatuation with his girlfriend borderlines on creepy obsession and his fierce determination to get rich threatens everyone in his path.

Farrell is most convincing as the weaker brother with a more guilt-ridden conscience. He’s a bundle of boyish anxiety, and truly is the most “tragic” character of the film, if not the most sympathetic. Sally Hawkins is also quite good as his sweet girlfriend Kate. Both of their characters possess a grounded vulnerability and prove most interesting to watch.

Much like the femme fatale Scarlett Johanssen played in Match Point, voluptuous beauty Hayley Atwell plays Ian’s tragic foil Angela. She’s someone who uses her sexuality for career advancement and isn’t shy to admit it. While Ian is head-over-heels attached to her, she is considerably ...