“The Clearing”

By David DiCerto
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- A wealthy businessman savvy in the art of deal-making finds himself negotiating for his life in the lukewarm thriller "The Clearing" (Fox Searchlight).

Producer Pieter Jan Brugge's maiden voyage in the director's chair seems, at least on paper, like a recipe for an engaging 91 minutes: a first-rate cast, complex characters and best-film Oscar nomination for 1999's "The Insider." And yet after mixing all these ingredients together what results is a cinematic souffle that, though soundly crafted, fails to engage viewers on a sustained emotional level.

Robert Redford stars as Wayne Hayes, a self-made millionaire who built a highly successful car rental business from the ground up and sold it at a handsome profit. But his road to the American dream has been paved with personal potholes, including a strained marriage with his wife, Eileen (Helen Mirren), and an extramarital affair.

Willem Dafoe plays Arnold Mack, a recently unemployed working-class stiff who snatches Wayne from his tony driveway at gunpoint and holds him for ransom in a secluded wilderness. Mack tells Wayne he has been hired by some unidentified third party to kidnap him and deliver him to a remote cabin hideaway. Along the way, Wayne uses his persuasiveness to connect with Mack, who seems uncomfortable in his role as kidnapper.

Meanwhile, Eileen experiences a similar sense of captivity as a cadre of FBI agents takes over her home and begins to pry into her private life while frantically trying to secure her husband's release.

Brugge seesaws between the two story lines, maintaining a shroud of mystery and uncertainty by keeping viewers off-balance concerning the chronology and elapsed time of each parallel track.

Though "The Clearing" has all the trappings of a conventional abduction film, as the narrative unfolds it becomes clear that the story is really an introspective autopsy of a decomposing marriage. Much of the movie involves captor and hostage trudging through the woods, their high-stakes tete-a-tete taking on deeper meaning as Wayne begins to contemplate the choices he made in life and mourn the emotional casualties incurred.

The kidnapping similarly forces Eileen to take inventory of their relationship. Their separate soul-searching dovetails in the film's poignant final scene. Somewhere along the road to success they lost sight of what truly mattered: their love for each other.

The movie's timberland title can be read as a play on words -- the clearing of each character's conscience.

Though peppered with moments of apprehension that echo "The Vanishing" (produced by Brugge), the film's overall tension is thinly spread, thanks to restrained direction and subdued acting. Trying to wring suspense out of such stoic performances is like trying to capture a brilliant sunset on canvas using only gray paint.

As always, Redford is a charismatic presence -- the kind of actor who can exude confidence blindfolded, which he does in several scenes. Mirren is a study in strait-laced understatement. Dafoe imbues the mild-mannered Mack with a blend of steely resolve and hangdog timidity. But taken as a whole this middling movie is somehow less than the sum of its parts.

Due to brief violence and sporadic rough and crude language, as well as profanity, the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted.

* DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.