Writer-director Nicholas Jarecki’s makes his directional debut with this suspense thriller and compelling character study about love, loyalty, and high finance following the life of corrupt Wall Street billionaire Robert Miller (Richard Gere).
At the age of 60, New York hedge-fund magnate Miller, is the portrait of success, he appears to truly have it all. However, behind the walls of his mansion, not everything is as it seems. A bad deal involving a failed Russian copper mine investment has led him into a $400 million debt and subsequent fraud.
Miller is frantically trying to complete the sale of his trading empire to a major bank before the depths of his fraud are revealed, and keep it a secret from his doting daughter and the company’s Chief Investment Officer and heir to his business, Brooke (Brit Marling). Miller is also betraying his loving and devoted wife Ellen (Susan Saradon) by having yet another affair, this time with French art-dealer Julie (Laetetia Casta) whose art gallery he’s invested in.
With all this going on, an accidental death means he is not only balancing marital troubles and business fraud, but also a serious crime where he may have to exchange his Armani suit for a prison garb.
It’s intended to be an attack on the mentality that values wealth over morality and reveal the harsh realities and deceits that lie within investment business in the city that never sleeps. At one point, asked if he thinks money is the answer to everything, he responds, ‘is there anything else?’ showing that everything else really is secondary to him. As Miller’s personal and business lives begin to fall apart, we see this greedy and self-interest mind-set further revealed, with everyone in his life treated as a resource, easily expendable.
We expect the supporting characters to provide the moral counterpoint, but there’s ambiguity there – as each character develops, we find ourselves questioning and re-evaluating each one of them. It seems that money may really be the only thing that matters, in their world at least. Even Bryer (Tim Roth), the detective pursuing Miller in the wake of the car crash, is shown to be morally flawed, falsifying evidence in his quest to bring Miller down. The only one we can really trust is Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker) who responds to Millers late night call and helps him abandon the murder scene.
The film was good but not great. You feel sympathy, anger, and disgust against Miller, whilst at the same time being seductively fascinated by his charm. You are kept on edge as to whether his lies will ever catch up with him or if he’ll suddenly realise the error of his ways. He lies in every aspect of his life, but you can’t help but egg him on a bit with getting away with it all.
When you think of a Wall Street tycoon, you think of someone exactly like Robert Miller, this film shows the depth of bravery and deceit you need to make it as a high-finance business man.
