Breaking and Entering (film)
| Breaking and Entering | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Anthony Minghella |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Anthony Minghella |
| Starring | |
| Music by | |
| Cinematography | Benoît Delhomme |
| Editing by | Lisa Gunning |
| Distributed by | |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 116 minutes |
| Country |
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| Language | English |
| Box office | $8,974,829[1] |
Breaking and Entering is a 2006 romantic crime drama film directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, and Robin Wright Penn. The film was written by Minghella, his first original screenplay since his 1991 feature debut Truly, Madly, Deeply. Set in a blighted, inner-city neighbourhood of London, the film is about a successful landscape architect whose dealings with a young thief and his mother cause him to re-evaluate his life.[2]
Minghella previously directed the film's stars – Jude Law in Cold Mountain and The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Juliette Binoche in The English Patient. In his first major film role, Rafi Gavron portrays Miro, the young traceur burglar, a role requiring several difficult physical feats. The film is a presentation of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company and was distributed in the United States by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Breaking and Entering premièred on September 13, 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival.[3]
Plot
Will Francis (Jude Law), a young Englishman, is a landscape architect living a detached, routine-based life in London with his Swedish-American girlfriend Liv (Robin Wright Penn) and her autistic daughter Bea. The 13-year-old girl's irregular sleeping and eating habits as well as her unsocial behaviour (she has trouble relating to people and seems only interested in doing somersaults and gymnastics) reach worrying proportions and start to put a lot of strain on Will and Liv's relationship. Complicating the situation further is his feeling of being shut out of their inner circle since Bea is not his biological daughter. He and Liv start relationship counseling, but their drifting apart continues.
Simultaneously on the business front, Will's and his partner Sandy's state-of-the-art offices in the Kings Cross area are repeatedly burgled by a group of Slavic-language speaking thieves. The thieves employ a 15-year-old traceur named Miro (Rafi Gavron) whose acrobatic skills allow them to enter the building. Miro is actually a refugee from Bosnia living with his Muslim mother Amira (Juliette Binoche) who works as a seamstress while his Serbian father got murdered during the war.
Though they're puzzled about the burglars' ability to disable the alarm, the two architects are not particularly worried after the first break-in, mostly writing it off to the neighborhood's dodgy reputation. However, after the second one they decide to stake out the building after hours hoping to find the culprit and alert the police. Being out of the house on nightly stakeouts actually suits Will just fine, allowing him to get away from the cold atmosphere of his household. He even strikes up a strange acquaintance with an Eastern European prostitute named Oana (Vera Farmiga) who hangs around the area every night. Spotting Miro attempting to break in one night, Will attempts to follow him. This pursuit leads Will to the flat where Miro lives with his mother Amira. Realizing their modest living means, he decides not to report his findings to the police, but goes back to Amira's apartment under the guise of having a suit that needs mending.
He soon becomes emotionally entangled with her, causing him to re-evaluate his life. Conflict arises when the police close in on the burglars, and Will must make a crucial choice which will affect the lives of everyone around him.
Cast
- Jude Law as Will Francis
- Juliette Binoche as Amira Simić
- Robin Wright Penn as Liv
- Rafi Gavron as Mirsad "Miro" Simić
- Martin Freeman as Sandy
- Ed Westwick as Zoran
- Velibor Topić as Vlado
- Rad Lazar as Dragan
- Poppy Rogers as Beatrice
- Anna Chancellor as Kate
- Juliet Stevenson as Rosemary
- Mark Benton as Legge
- Ray Winstone as Bruno Fella
- Vera Farmiga as Oana
- Ting-Ting Hu as Wei-Ping
- O.T. Fagbenle as O-T Fagbenle
Production
Filming locations
The film centres on the area of King's Cross, London. The filming location for Amira's flat is Rowley Way, South Hampstead, London. Since a suitable location near Kings Cross couldn't be found, Will's office was recreated in an old foundry located in Dace Road, by the Old Ford Lock, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.[4] Other locations include:
- Alexandra Palace, Haringey, London, England, UK (Miro and the cop)
- Camden Market, London, England, UK
- Hackney Wick, London, England, UK
- Hungerford Bridge, London, England, UK (sunset)
- King's Cross Station, King's Cross, London, England, UK
- Muswell Hill, Haringey, London, England, UK
- Primrose Hill, London, England, UK (sunset)
- Rowley Way, South Hampstead, London, England, UK (Amira's flat)
- St. Pancras Station, St. Pancras, London, England, UK.[5]
Soundtrack
Gabriel Yared and Underworld collaborated on the film's original music score.
Reception
The film largely received negative reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the film 34%.[6]
References
- ^ "Breaking and Entering". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
- ^ "Breaking and Entering". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
- ^ "Release dates for Breaking and Entering". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
- ^ Kabat, Jennifer. "Behind the Scenes". Metropolis Magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
- ^ "Filming locations for Breaking and Entering". Internet Movie Database.
- ^ "Breaking and Entering - Rotten Tomatoes". Uk.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
External links
- Breaking and Entering at the Internet Movie Database
- Breaking and Entering at AllRovi
- Breaking and Entering at Box Office Mojo
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