The Ghost Writer - a film review

Setting aside my negative sentiments about Roman Polanski, I went to see his new film. 


Based on the novel “The Ghost” by the best-selling English novelist Robert Harris, partially mimicking the life of real former British prime minister, Tony Blair, The Ghost Writer is a modern day political thriller re written for the screen by Harris with the help of Mr. Polanski.

Perhaps because I have not read the book, I thought that the Ghost Writer was a bit reminiscent of the British comedy Pulp, in which a writer is offered a large sum to ghostwrite the autobiography of a gangster and is transported to a remote island, where he plays an amateur detective after the murder of his subject.

However, this fictional satire is neither a traditional comedy, nor a simple murder mystery. Like other work by Polanski, it a film noir, which pokes fun of itself with light irony of a very menacing kind.

Ewan McGregor delivers one of his best performances as the Ghost, a compliant and suitable substitute ghost writer, with convenient lack of past and family, who is hired to finish an autobiography already written by a famous writer, who mysteriously drowns. The Ghost is given only four weeks, which later get cut down to four, to finish the memoirs of a former British prime minister, Adam Lang (played by Pierce Brosnan). To do this task, the Ghost is shipped off to the secluded Martha’s Vineyard, where he attempts to both write a bestseller and solve the mystery surrounding his predecessor’s unfortunate death.

The story itself may not be weighty, but Polanski certainly creates a heavy atmosphere - a dreary, colorless, and windy environment, in which the storm is imminent and anxiety builds over time, in a suspenseful veil of darkness equal to that of a Hitchcock film. 

The uncomplicated plot, coupled with monochromatic hues and subtle acting of other leading characters create an artful setting for Ewan McGregor’s shine as the Ghost Writer.

The Ghost Writer never lets off tension until it culminates at the very end, which is much anticipated but somewhat predictable. 

Despite the obvious ending, the Ghost Writer does not disappoint. It is masterfully crafted and  worth watching, if just for the sheer diversion of seeing a well directed creation with a thespian polish.