Drawn to Colette’s beauty and impressed by Chester’s wealth and sophistication, Rydal gladly accepts their invitation to dinner. However, all is not as it seems with the MacFarlands and Chester’s affable exterior hides darker secrets. When Rydal visits the couple at their exclusive hotel, Chester presses him to help move the body of a seemingly unconscious man who he claims attacked him. In the moment, Rydal agrees but as events take a more sinister turn he finds himself compromised and unable to pull himself free. His increasing infatuation with the vulnerable and responsive Colette gives rise to Chester’s jealousy and paranoia.
The Two Faces of January is an American thriller film written and directed by screenwriter Hossein Amini in his directorial debut. Based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1964 novel of the same name, the film stars Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, and Oscar Isaac. Filming took place on location in Greece and Turkey and at a studio in London. The film premiered in February 2014 in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.
Hossein Amini wrote the screenplay, which also marks his directorial debut; Amini said he had wanted to direct a film adaptation of the novel for the past 15 years. Amini’s screenplay is based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. Producer Tom Sternberg optioned the rights to the novel and originally set up a project with the production company Mirage. Sternberg developed the project with Amini and it found the backing by StudioCanal and Working Title.
Principal photography began August 2012 in Athens, Crete, Istanbul, and London’s Ealing Studios. Identifiable locations include the Küçük Hasan mosque on Chania harbour, a nearby café and the Grand Arsenal in Plateia Katehaki, the ruins of Knossos near Iraklion, and the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
About the Story
In 1962, con man Chester MacFarland and his wife Colette tour Greece and visit the Acropolis of Athens. There they meet Rydal, who scams tourists while working as a tour guide. The MacFarlands invite Rydal to dinner, and Rydal, intrigued by the couple’s wealth and Colette’s beauty, accepts their invitation.
Colette likes Rydal, but Chester doesn’t trust him. After dinner, they part, but Rydal goes back to their hotel to return a bracelet Colette left in their shared taxi. Meanwhile a private detective hired by victims of Chester’s investment swindles has gone to the MacFarlands’ hotel room and demanded that Chester repay their money. The detective pulls a gun, and Chester kills him in a brief struggle. While he is trying to stow the body in the detective’s hotel room, Rydal finds him in the corridor. Chester asks Rydal for his help.
Rydal takes the MacFarlands to see a friend who can furnish false passports to replace those they left at their hotel’s front desk. He suggests waiting for the counterfeit documents on Crete. There they cannot check into a hotel in Iraklion without identification papers. They spend the evening at a restaurant where Chester gets drunk watching Rydal and Colette dance and grow close. They all sleep the night on the quayside.
They travel by bus to Chania, where Colette visits Rydal’s room while her husband sleeps. Whether Colette and Rydal have sex is unclear. On the way back to Iraklion, Colette believes someone has recognized her from newspaper pictures of the Americans who fled the hotel in Athens. She runs off the bus at a stop. Chester and Rydal follow and together they tromp to the ruins of Knossos.
When it begins to rain and they seek shelter, Chester lures Rydal into an underground labyrinth and knocks him out. Colette asks what happened to Rydal. As he tries to pull her up the stairs, Colette loses her balance and falls to her death. When Rydal comes to in the morning, he is seen leaving by a group of students and their guide. Chester has rushed to Iraklion to pick up the passports, paying Rydal’s friend $2,500. Rydal arrives in Knossos and tracks Chester down. The two realize they are bound together by the various roles in the detective’s death, acquiring false passports, and Colette’s death. If either is arrested he will implicate the other.
The Two Faces of January
Directed by; Hossein Amini
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Bevan, Karayianni Margaux, Yigit Özsener, Nikos Mavrakis
Bcreenplay by; Hossein Amini
Production Design by: Michael Carlin
Cinematography by: Marcel Zyskind
Film Editing by; Nicolas Chaudeurge, Jon Harris
Costume Design by: Steven Noble
Set Decoration by: Dominic Capon
Music by: Alberto Iglesias
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violence, language and smoking.
Studio: Studio Canal, Working Title
Release Date: September 26, 2014
Visits: 50
