Re: Crimes and Misdemeanors
Quote:
And after the awful deed is done, he finds that he's plagued by deep-rooted guilt. Little sparks of his religious background which he'd rejected are suddenly stirred up. He hears his father's voice. He imagines that God is watching his every move. Suddenly, it's not an empty universe at all, but a just and moral one, and he's violated it. Now, he's panic-stricken. He's on the verge of a mental collapse-an inch away from confessing the whole thing to the police. And then one morning, he awakens. The sun is shining, his family is around him and mysteriously, the crisis has lifted. He takes his family on a vacation to Europe and as the months pass, he finds he's not punished. In fact, he prospers. The killing gets attributed to another person-a drifter who has a number of other murders to his credit, so I mean, what the hell? One more doesn't even matter. Now he's scott-free. His life is completely back to normal. Back to his protected world of wealth and privilege.
For all Match Point did right, it must forever live in Crimes and Misdemeanors' shadow. For good reason.
In fact, this is the type of all-encompassing masterwork that can make a lot of later work seem redundant. For example, C&M's deft handling of the line we draw between comedy and tragedy also renders poor, flat Melinda & Melinda completely obsolete.
