Themes: Kidnapping, Haunted By the Past, Infidelity
Main Cast: Robert Redford, Helen Mirren, Willem Dafoe, Alessandro Nivola, Matt Craven
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Dutch film producer Pieter Jan Brugge makes his directorial debut with the dramatic thriller The Clearing. Affluent executive Wayne Hayes (Robert Redford) and his lovely wife, Eileen (Helen Mirren), live in a beautiful home in Pittsburg. One day, Wayne is kidnapped by disgruntled employee Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe). He is then held for ransom in a forest. Meanwhile, Eileen is forced to reckon with the FBI agents as they negotiate with the kidnapper. Alessandro Nivola and Melissa Sagemiller star as the two grown Hayes children. Matt Craven plays FBI Agent Ray Fuller. The Clearing premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
The directorial debut of producer Pieter Jan Brugge, this drama disguised as a thriller is more interested in the psychological journey undertaken by its three principal characters than it is in the trappings of its genre. For much of the film, that creative choice works. There are plenty of reasons, early on, to become engrossed; the fact that the seemingly placid, happy marriage of Wayne (Robert Redford) and Eileen (Helen Mirren) is troubled enough that at first, she is not certain if he has been kidnapped or has abandoned her, is an involving development that touches on notions of karmic payback (if he had been faithful, Wayne would have been considered a kidnapping victim sooner) and reveals the unspoken inner conflict Eileen is suffering (terrified her husband is being hurt, but angry he has abandoned her again). Equally, Wayne's response to his predicament is to deal with it as a business problem to be solved through negotiation and a little bullying -- exactly the wrong stance to adopt toward his self-pitying captor, Arnold (Willem Dafoe, typically, reliably creepy even in the role of a mundane, blue-collar drone). These are fascinating characters, superbly played with nuanced performances, as hypnotic as the rippling waves of a placid pond after a heavy stone is tossed into its center. It's frustrating, then, that the writer/director doesn't sustain his momentum for the entire film. Once the characters' inner lives have been bared, The Clearing (2004) should wrap it up fast, but it stumbles on, and by the time of the "twist" ending (one that is none too difficult to see coming), Brugge has run out of steam -- just when the conventions of the thriller might have rescued his story, if not his protagonists. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Paul Huggins - Art Director, Victoria Thomas - Casting, Florence-Isabelle Megginson - Costume Designer, John Rusk - First Assistant Director, Pieter Jan Brugge - Director, Kevin Tent - Editor, Karen Tenkhoff - Executive Producer, Dara Weintraub - Line Producer, Craig Armstrong - Composer (Music Score), Chris Gorak - Production Designer, Denis Lenoir - Cinematographer, Pieter Jan Brugge - Producer, Palmer West - Producer, Jonah Smith - Producer, Douglas Axtell - Sound/Sound Designer, Pieter Jan Brugge - Screen Story, Justin Haythe - Screenwriter, David Kudell - Supervising Sound Editor, David Stanke - Supervising Sound Editor, Paul Flinchbaugh - Supervising Sound Editor, Marthe Pineau - Set Decorator
The Clearing Corporation (TCC) has no problem coming between buyers and sellers of over-the-counter traded derivatives (such as futures and options). As trades are continuously matched throughout the day, TCC substitutes itself as buyer and seller for the trade and thus guarantees the performance of every trade it accepts. The independent clearinghouse serves major dealers and participants in the worldwide derivatives market, most of which are stockholders. The company was formed in 1925 as The Board of Trade Clearing Corporation and became the first independent clearinghouse for futures markets in the US. TCC was bought by the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) in 2009.
Officers:
Chairman: Michael C. Dawley
COO: Kevin R. McClear
VP Information Technology Infrastructure: Richard Jerge
Wayne Hayes (played by Redford), and his wife Eileen (played by Mirren) are living the American dream in a wealthy Pittsburgh suburb, having raised two children and built up a successful business from scratch. He is looking forward to a peaceful retirement with Eileen. However, everything changes when Wayne is kidnapped in broad daylight by a former employee, Arnold Mack (played by Dafoe). While Wayne tries negotiating with the kidnapper for his life, and Eileen tries to secure her husband's release, she finds herself being investigated by the FBI.
The kidnapping causes Wayne and Eileen to reevaluate their relationship, after Eileen discovers that Wayne has continued an extramarital affair that he promised to end months previously. Eileen begins to wonder whether she should pay the ransom, as it increasingly appears unlikely that Wayne will be safely released.
However, Eileen's efforts to secure Wayne's release turn out to have been in vain, as Wayne was murdered by Arnold early in the kidnapping. Eileen's ordeal takes place over the course of a week, while Wayne is only held for a day before he is killed. The time discrepancy is only revealed towards the end of the movie, and until then it seems that Wayne and Eileen's experiences are occurring simultaneously.
