Sunday, September 5, 2021

The Offence (1972)

IMDb plot summary: A burnt-out British police detective finally snaps whilst interrogating a suspected child molester.
Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Sean Connery, Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant, and Ian Bannen.

Sidney Lumet was so gifted at narrowing in on a character's psyche, and he does that beautifully here. I don't think I've seen a finer performance from Sean Connery. It's a slow burn as we see more and more of the character's unraveling, and by the time we get to the end the tension is high. The film is based on a stage play, which makes complete sense to me, as it unfolds in essentially a series of two-person scenes, but the writing, directing, and acting keeps that from ever feeling like more should be happening. Definitely worth checking out.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Offence > Frank
The Offence > Woman in the Dunes
The Offence < He Loves Me ... He Loves Me Not
The Offence < School of Rock
The Offence > The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
The Offence < Don't Drink the Water
The Offence > The Wolf of Wall Street
The Offence > Anomalisa
The Offence < The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Offence > Good Kill
The Offence > The Shape of Water
Final spot: #704 out of 3431, or 79%.

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