The Ghost Writer is a thriller about the unnamed titular character who jokingly refers to himself as Ghost. He normally writes for magicians and is not setting the world on fire with his work. The Ghost Writer, played by an actor with the best smile, Ewan McGregor, is hired to work on the autobiography of a former British prime minister, played by Pierce Brosnan. The Ghost Writer is in over his head as he enters a world filled with tension, danger and the harsh glare of public disapproval because the former prime minister is facing charges of being a war criminal. The Ghost Writer is torn between sticking to his assignment (make the tome readable) and investigating a juicy story, the death of his predecessor and the truth behind the charges. The Ghost Writer is a beautiful film with a brilliant cast and a perfect story
I thought that I hated political spy thrillers such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and A Most Wanted Man. Then I watched The Ghost Writer. It does not hurt that The Ghost Writer is an adaptation of a Robert Harris novel called The Ghost, and Harris co-wrote the screenplay with the director. I loved Harris’ Fatherland. If you have to see a film by only one alleged rapist pedophile, forget Woody Allen and always choose Roman Polanski, who has reclaimed the political spy thriller from the growing number of Lifetime melodramatic movies for men that claim the political spy thriller mantle. Polanski’s The Ghost Writer struck a convincing Hitchcockian pose, but filled it with such a stark pessimism that I almost wanted to watch it again to verify that it was just as perfect after repeat viewings. Unfortunately time did not permit such indulgences.
Each shot in The Ghost Writer is perfect and demands your complete attention to fully appreciate its genius. The first character is an inanimate object, a BMW introduced on a ferry. The first shot shows the car blocking traffic on the ferry. Then the car is alone on the ferry and towed away while ringing an alarm. When McGregor’s voice appears over scenes of the police investigating, their destiny is tied. He and the car are ghosts-the only remains of the first ghostwriter. While intellectually we understand that he is not the first ghostwriter, he kind of is because he follows his footsteps. It would explain why he is such a blank slate ready to insert himself into any scenario, and he even admits that he is acting uncharacteristically by staying in his subject’s home. I just kept thinking of The Ghost Writer as a literal vengeful ghost story or a possession story, and that McGregor’s character is doomed to repeat history and keep haunting the site of his death until avenged.
The Ghost Writer is also a cold film in terms of palette, and the films’ events are set in the winter on the (fake) beaches of Martha’s Vineyard. The prime minister’s office picture window makes the outside feel like it is inside and has the feel of an impending storm. The foreground and the background are always in sharp focus. Polanski creates a constant visual tension instead of shooting films the way that we are used to. He does not tell us to focus on only one spot while blurring the rest of the scene. He wants us to focus on the entire picture. When we see the groundskeeper’s frustration at the futility of his efforts against the wind, it echoes the themes of The Ghost Writer. The elements are too big for this man to handle.
The only warmth is a painting in the bedroom that looks like the walls are covered in blood. With Polanski directing, it is hard not to associate this scene with the Manson family murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, especially since it is next to the prime minister’s wife as she is sleeping. Olivia Williams, whom I love from everything that I have seen her in (The Sixth Sense, An Education, Dollhouse, Maps to the Stars, Man Up), is expertly cast as the neglected, intelligent wife. Williams is equally believable as a jealous wife on the rebound or a woman frustrated by her lack of control over her husband, i.e. power. On one level, her attraction to McGregor makes sense—he always sees her as pivotal to her husband’s story; her husband is openly having an affair; and the mistress lives with them. On the other hand, as hot as McGregor is, he is some random writer who does not even get top billing in the books that he writes. It is a bit of a demotion for a prime minister’s wife. She does effectively manipulate the titular character into briefly becoming a spokesperson by crafting her husband’s response to the press. McGregor’s character is slightly stunned to hear his words on the news. More boundaries collapse, and she implicitly provides more temptation and power. Perhaps he is a viable new puppet. Williams injects a bit of detective film noir into The Ghost Writer that adds to the suspense. This genre shout out is also alluded to in a later scene with Edward Hopper lighting and a covert meeting at a diner.
The Ghost Writer wisely creates a story by omitting certain details. Polanski and Harris use phone calls to develop tension. The former prime minister takes an angry call outside. A professor’s wife is talking to someone when an unexpected visitor arrives. Who are they talking to? A mysterious voice answers the phone. The final scene is powerful because it denies the audience closure and suggests a cycle that will repeat again. “All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.” We know everything that has happened and the inherent danger, and it does not matter. There will be another investigator, and when that person discovers the truth, another.
The Ghost Writer’s casting is pitch perfect. Casting a former Bond actor as the suspicious prime minister is perfect because his film history imbues his character with more suspect motives than if he was not an iconic spy.
The Ghost Writer does have some flaws. There is a point where everything is a bit on the nose when The Ghost Writer mirrors current events. Hatherton is a bit too close to Halliburton. A black actress plays the US Secretary of State. Hmmmm, is she supposed to be Condoleeza Rice? So that would mean that Brosnan’s character is the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the war crimes are referring to the second Iraq war. Some people may have mixed emotions regarding the autobiographical nature of Polanski’s treatment of the former British prime minister’s extradition predicament. Is he trying to elicit sympathy or just depicting it based on first hand experience?
Despite being too grounded in temporal realities, The Ghost Writer is still an evocative thriller that suggests a never-ending cycle of conspiracy that is larger than any individual and a Sisyphean investigator doomed to uncover and not reveal the truth.