Today’s review is on Woody Allen’s ‘Match Point’ (2005). If you have watched ‘Midnight in Paris’ before, you are probably not new to Woody Allen. He has been a great director, and I must say I enjoy most of his work.

The film begins with the protagonist Chris Wilton, a recently retired tennis professional, is hired as a tennis coach at a post club in London. One day, he meets up a wealthy lad as a pupil, Tom Hewett, and their friendship grows. Tom introduces his sister, Chloe, to Chris, and the two begin dating. However, Chris seems to like Tom’s fiancee, Nola. Then the story mainly deals with the relationships between Chris, Nola, and Chloe.

There are two notable themes in the film that I would like to describe. The first is social class. Chris and Nola come from similar social background, and that is the main reason why, in my opinion, that they have mutual love. When Chris is introduced by Tom to his rich family, Chris tries to act like the posh class; while Nola doesn’t quite care about how she acts in front of Tom’s family, focusing on pursuing her dream. The two marriages in the film have nothing to do with Nola. Chris is ‘bought’ by Chloe’s dad to the rich family, so that he can climb up to his greasy post. When meeting Nola after the marriage, Chris appears to have got used to the life in upper class, and he takes the role of the previous Tom, taking Nola as a sex partner, asking her to abort the baby when she is found pregnant. Also, at the end of the film, after committing the crime, Chris manages to escapes from being arrested, by putting the responsibilities to the drug addict, who belongs to the lowest social class…. and it is mainly due to the careless investigation by the police.

The second theme I think is significant is ‘Crime and Punishment’. Can a murderer completely get away from what he does? In the monologue scene, Chris says that he is not scared about getting arrested, he would even be pleased about being arrested for what he does because it would show justice. At the last scene, when his family is celebrating, he looks out from the window, realising that he cannot psychologically get away from what he does. Compared Chris’s circumstances to a tennis/ table-tennis match, Chris wins from the police, but loses himself.

Generally, this film has a smooth plot, with some good depth. If you like Woody Allen’s style, I would recommend this film to you. If you have never heard of Woody Allen but you like crime films with a bit of depth, this would be a good film for you.