Anthony Minghella's romantic drama is a thoughtful work that explores relationships and the intangibles that form the distances keeping people apart. For the discerning, intelligent cinema lover.
Breaking and Entering (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:121
Fresh:41
Rotten:80
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: This class warfare drama feels contrived and superficial: characters don’t act logically as the movie manipulates them towards deconstructing various social issues.
Theatrical Release:Dec 15, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $880,510
Synopsis: BREAKING AND ENTERING may lack the quality and scope of Anthony Minghella's previous work such as THE ENGLISH PATIENT and COLD MOUNTAIN, but it's an interesting, character-driven drama. Jude Law... BREAKING AND ENTERING may lack the quality and scope of Anthony Minghella's previous work such as THE ENGLISH PATIENT and COLD MOUNTAIN, but it's an interesting, character-driven drama. Jude Law (CLOSER) plays Will, a landscape architect who succeeds in business but finds his personal life is tougher to navigate. He has been with Liv (Robin Wright Penn, FORREST GUMP) for years, but it's difficult to connect with her due to her worry over her teenage daughter. When Will catches a teenage boy named Miro (Ravi Gafron) breaking into his office, he chases the thief home. He later meets the boy's mother, a Bosnian refugee played by Juliette Binoche (CHOCOLAT). His anger at Miro is quickly transformed into attraction to his mother, further complicating his relationship with Liv. This is Law's third teaming with Minghella (after THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and COLD MOUNTAIN), and their partnership rewards the audience with a typically good performance from the actor. Wright Penn and Binoche also display the talent people have come to expect, but it's the supporting cast that shines here. As Will's business partner, Sandy, Martin Freeman plays second fiddle to Law, but he possesses a similar charm as his character on THE OFFICE. As a persistent prostitute, Vera Farmiga (THE DEPARTED) is one of the movie's highlights, providing laughter in what is largely a very bleak film. Gavron is a capable young actor as Miro, but his performance is most astonishing for his skills at the sport of parkour, a kind of urban acrobatics on display throughout the film. If only these characters were half as adept at life and relationships as Gavron is at leaping from building to building.... [More]
Starring: Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn, Martin Freeman
Starring: Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn, Martin Freeman, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Rafi Gavron, Poppy Rogers
Director: Anthony Minghella
Director: Anthony Minghella
Producer: Timothy Bricknell
Composer: Gabriel Yared
Studio: MGM
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Reviews for Breaking and Entering
Many talented directors have a Breaking and Entering in them, and some -- like Anthony Minghella -- have the misfortune of being successful enough to have it green-lit.
Minghella should be complimented on at least attemptingsomething cerebral, but the experiment falls short. The schematic screenplay complete with bald symbols ... and the various aspects of both "breaking" and "entering" that are employed devalue the fina
Benoît Delhomme's cool cinematography and a truly lovely score, by Underworld's Karl Hydem, Rick Smith and Gabriel Yared, are the film's biggest assets.
There are moments in Breaking that are heart-stoppingly perfect in their observance of human beings engaging in games of the heart.
Another boring, messy, pessimistic relationship movie about men cheating and women behaving cruelly.
A shapely, intelligent piece probing the placid surface of London’s trendy reputation to discover an array of 21st century maladies -- personal, social, political, criminal, even mental, but not, it transpires, dental.
Minghella raises some interesting questions on the subject of exile — whether from one's country, family, ethnic identity or self. But his conclusions feel pious and pat.
Handsome man deals with neurotic wife by having unlikelyaffair with mother of criminal lad.
A drab, unaffecting combination of unrealistic drama and muddled didacticism, impossible to connect with on either an emotional or an intellectual level.
[Breaking and Entering is a] sophisticated and wonderfully particular character study...
Makes the mistake of cluttering the screen and the story. They run out of time because of the filler, so the emotions are rushed to the extremes.
It's an unsettling pleasure, but pleasurable nonetheless, to listen to adults talk about intimate issues in an engaged, intelligent manner for the better part of two hours.
Minghella is aided immeasurably by his excellent cast, especially Jude Law, who seems to get better with every film, and a radiant Juliette Binoche in one of her best performances.
Minghella gives the impression that, underneath all the sludge, he has something very important to say, but this never makes itself clear.
Breaking and Entering sighs and whimpers and waffles until, far from losing myself in this timid movie, I found myself wishing it would speak up.
Latest News for Breaking and Entering
March 18, 2008:
Anthony Minghella: A Tomatometer Retrospective
English filmmaker Anthony Minghella had a sparse but critically acclaimed career by the time of his passing today at the age of 54. We turn to the six films Minghella directed,... More...
March 18, 2008:
Anthony Minghella: 1954-2008
Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Cold Mountain, has passed away at the age of 54. More...
July 30, 2007:
Frank Miller Faults Weinsteins for Sin City 2 Delay
While sitting on a Comic Con panel, Frank Miller was asked about the hold-up on Sin City 2. (Numerous times, probably.) And it looks like the celebrated author / artist /... More...
March 28, 2007:
"Indy 4" Casts Winstone as New Sidekick
Increasingly busy character actor Ray Winstone has joined the cast of the fourth "Indiana Jones" installment, due in theaters May 2008. More...
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