Croupier (1998)

Director:

Mike Hodges

Writer:

Paul Mayersberg (written by)

Release Date:

21 April 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Life's a Gamble

Plot:

An aspiring writer is hired as a croupier at a casino, where he realizes that his life as a croupier would make a great novel.

Plot Keywords:

Casino | Croupier | Gambler | Writer | Novel

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Clive Owen	...	Jack Manfred
Nick Reding	...	Giles Cremorne
Nicholas Ball	...	Jack Snr.
Alexander Morton	...	David Reynolds
Barnaby Kay	...	Car Dealer
Gina McKee	...	Marion Nell
John Radcliffe	...	Barber
Sheila Whitfield	...	Manicurist
David Hamilton	...	Casino Supervisor
Carol Davis	...	Table Supervisor
Eddie Osei	...	West Indian Punter
Doremy Vernon	...	Woman I
Claudine Carter	...	Woman II
Ursula Alberts	...	Madame Claude
Neville Phillips	...	White Haired Man

Also Known As:

Der Croupier (Germany)

Runtime:

94 min | Poland:91 min

Country:

France | UK | Germany | Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-11 | Argentina:13 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Ireland:15 | Poland:15 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Infostudios, Monheim, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company:

Arte

Trivia:

Paul Mayersberg was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (1958).

Quotes:

Jack: [voiceover] Chapter 13. It's all numbers, the croupier thought. Spin of the wheel, turn of the card, time of your life, date of your birth, year of your death. In the book of Numbers the Lord said, "Thou shall count thy steps."

Dark and quirky thriller

A dense but rewarding film. It has a terrific performance from Owen, poised (in 1998) to become the international A-lister that he now is. He has to play three roles - two in shot, Jack and the emergent Jake, protagonist of the book Jack's writing - and a third, disembodied Jack in voice-over. The film follows his struggle with fatalism (or chance) and grand design. Whether as a writer, a croupier or an observer he likes to be in control, risk free.

Making sure this isn't quite how it works is a pretty solid list of fine support actors. Alex Kingston turns up with an impressively rendered South African accent and more sex appeal than the distilled accumulation of all her work on ER. Potent stuff. Gina McKee plays a conventional love interest without simply being wallpaper; David Hamilton runs the Casino with an ambiguity that mirrors Jack's.

Mike Hodges engineers tight, claustrophobic shots and choppy editing. Everything about the film is up close and suffocating: shots in cars; Jack's tiny flat; stairwells and copulating couples in toilet cubicles. Owen's Jack is neither repelled by nor engages with this proximity. It only affects him if it foists itself upon him violently or he chooses to deal with it. Whether or not he actually has a choice is the point of this entertaining film. 7/10