In the great tradition of the
thriller, the new movie Derailed depends, at least initially, upon the notion that mere chance governs the
universe, that men and women live and die according to no discernible rules and
perhaps for no particular purpose. It also suggests, somewhat paradoxically,
that a kind of fate flows from some apparently haphazard and arbitrary
incident, engendering an inexorable series of further events. At the same time,
the movie shows that luck and chance operate capriciously, even allowing their
victim to reverse a deadly destiny through strength of will and violent action.
In Derailed the random hand of fate chooses Charles Schine (Clive
Owen), a Chicago advertising executive, who through a series of minor accidents
meets Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston), an attractive young woman who works at
a brokerage firm, on a commuter train. They strike up an acquaintance and,
after several trips to the city, move naturally toward something more than
friendship. When they finally drift, after considerable hesitation and a number
of drinks, to the point of sex, disaster strikes — an armed robber breaks
into their sleazy hotel room, pistol whips Charles, rapes Lucinda, and takes
their money, credit cards, and of course, all the information he needs to
disrupt Charles’s life.
From the moment of the attack,
Charles’s whole existence spins out of control; in addition to his burden of
guilt and shame over his betrayal and helplessness, he suffers the threat of
exposure from the robber, a vicious, cunning Frenchman named Phillipe Laroche
(Vincent Cassel), who demands ever more exorbitant payments for his silence. A
con man as well as a thug, Laroche even visits Charles’s home, charming his
wife and daughter and demanding his life savings, one hundred thousand dollars
laboriously accumulated to pay for his diabetic daughter’s treatment. When he
desperately attempts to thwart the blackmailer, the scheme ignites a chain of
shocking violence that ultimately explodes into something like a bloodbath.
After establishing its entirely
orthodox thriller situation, the picture develops a number of unusual and often
quite unpleasant subjects and themes. Its depiction of an ordinary man suddenly
and brutally victimized, threatened with the destruction of his entire life,
suggests the familiar, simpleminded notion of terrible punishment for a sexual
transgression; it also reveals to Charles and the viewer a hitherto unsuspected
reality, the precariousness of existence, the awful vulnerability of any
individual to the random, senseless cruelty of chance. Once the assault shatters
the foundations of Charles Schine’s normal world, a series of increasingly
violent acts follows in an inevitable pattern, demonstrating the consequences
of any action, and showing Charles the difficulty of righting a wrong or
repairing a rent in the fragile fabric of destiny.
When Charles discovers, again through
chance, further dimensions to his predicament and its causes, he finally
resolves to take action, which translates, appropriately, into violence and
bloodshed. Despite its apparent simplicity and its crude logic of cause and
effect, the picture’s plot accumulates complexity as it advances, taking a
number of surprising twists and turns, displaying once again other
possibilities of action, and in its deft handling of a couple of important objects,
even some ways to impose a pattern of order and unity on the random course of
events.
Clive Owen’s dark, impassive face
makes him a suitable victim, but his unvarying expression, monotone speech, and
emotional stolidity hardly suit the range his part demands. Though too often
she must match Owen’s glumness, Jennifer Aniston projects a nice combination of
smarts and sexiness. In a part that naturally contrasts with the leading
characters, however, Vincent Cassel dominates his scenes, playing one of the
most vicious and hateful villains in recent cinema, and unlike most of his ilk,
managing it without caricature or exaggeration.
The movie proceeds with a terrific
sense of urgency, moving through a series of shocks and surprises, showing the
constant presence of physical danger in the hostility of almost all the
characters. More important, it generates genuine tension, a kind of escalating
anxiety born out of the protagonist’s guilt and fear, his increasing
desperation, and the apparent hopelessness of his plight.
Derailed excitingly demonstrates the precariousness of ordinary life, the flimsiness of
the veil that obscures the deep abyss that yawns just beyond our view.
Derailed (R), directed by Mikael Håfström, is playing at
Canandaigua Theatres, Culver Ridge 16, Eastview 13, Geneseo Theatres, Greece
Ridge 12, Henrietta 18, Pittsford Cinema, Tinseltown
This article appears in Nov 16-22, 2005.
