Arbitrage (2012)

A troubled hedge fund magnate desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help.

Director:

Nicholas Jarecki

Writer:

Nicholas Jarecki

Stars:

Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Gere	...	Robert Miller
Susan Sarandon	...	Ellen Miller
Tim Roth	...	Det. Michael Bryer
Brit Marling	...	Brooke Miller
Laetitia Casta	...	Julie Côte
Nate Parker	...	Jimmy Grant
Stuart Margolin	...	Syd Felder
Chris Eigeman	...	Gavin Briar
Graydon Carter	...	James Mayfield
Bruce Altman	...	Chris Vogler
Larry Pine	...	Jeffrey Greenberg
Curtiss Cook	...	Det. Mills
Reg E. Cathey	...	Earl Monroe
Felix Solis	...	A.D.A. Deferlito
Tibor Feldman	...	Judge Rittenband

Storyline

Robert Miller is a successful financial businessman with a loving wife and a smart daughter ready to take over the family business. Professional secrets involving illegal fraudulent activities start coming out at the same time that Robert's personal secrets take a turn for the worse and threaten to derail everything he has achieved.

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Plot Keywords:

dead woman with eyes open | adultery | involuntary manslaughter | fleeing the scene of an accident | dead woman | 

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Taglines:

Power is the best alibi.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, brief violent images and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mentiras mortales

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$2,002,165 (USA) (14 September 2012)

Gross:

$7,918,283 (USA) (11 January 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Green Room Films, Treehouse Pictures, Parlay Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Eva Green was originally cast as Julie but dropped out to a scheduling conflict with Dark Shadows. Laetitia Casta was cast in her place.

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Goofs

When Julie is talking with Robert in her room, her belt is first buckled right to left, then a few seconds later it is buckled left to right.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Maria Bartiromo: But you took a huge bet on the housing crisis in the middle of the biggest boom in housing anybody has ever seen. Why?
Robert Miller: I'm a child of the '50s. My father welded steel for the Navy, and my mother worked at the V.A. They lived through the Depression, Pearl Harbor, and the bomb. They didn't think that bad things might happen. They knew that bad things would happen.
Maria Bartiromo: Is that what's happening now?
Robert Miller: When I was a kid, my favorite teacher was Mr. James. Mr. James said world events all ...

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Connections

Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Richard Gere/John Malkovich/Saoirse Ronan/Taylor Swift (2013)

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Soundtracks

"I See Who You Are"
Performed by Björk
Written by Björk and Mark Bell
Published by Universal-PolyGram International Publishing, Inc. on behalf of Universal Music Publishing Ltd. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Music Ltd.
Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group by arrangement with Warner Music Group
Film & TV Licensing, Polydor Ltd. (UK) under license from Universal Music Enterprises and One Little Indian Records/Wellhart (Overseas) Ltd.

User Reviews

A movie where the hero is also the movie's main villain and who better than Richared Gere to play the role!

'ARBITRAGE': Three Stars (Out of Five)

A movie where the hero is also the movie's main villain and who better than Richared Gere to play the role. The film tells the story of a billionaire businessman (Gere) who is attempting to sell his company, while covering up it's massive losses, as well as avoid going to prison for vehicular manslaughter. It's another film that tries to present a vile human being as a relatable person. It co-stars Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth and Brit Marling and was written and directed by first time feature filmmaker Nicholas Jarecki. The movie is aptly directed and well cast but it deals with such immoral behavior by it's central character that it's hard to like.

Gere plays Robert Miller, a hedge fund manager who lost his company huge sums of money on a big deal gone sour and is now trying to cover it up and sell the company before anyone know it's true value. He's married with two kids (that work for him at his company) but he also has a mistress, named Julie (Laetitia Casta), that he's constantly trying to please as well. When Julie is killed in a car accident, with him at the wheel, he flees the scene and involves an unwitting friend, Jimmy (Nate Parker), in covering up his involvement. A police detective (Roth) is on to him and threatens to send Jimmy to prison for over a decade if he doesn't cooperate. At the same time his daughter (Marling) is on to his business crimes and Robert has to deal with her as well.

The movie is an interesting crime film; it does definitely keep your attention. It's also very dark and cynical but that's not the problem I had with it. I don't mind movies that focus on bad people as long as they're portrayed that way but here it seems like the movie is still trying to send us the message that Miller is still a good guy. Credit definitely has to be given to Gere's performance because he does play the conflicted character well and he does make him seem almost relatable. We all justify and rationalize our actions in our own minds and I guess this movie does a good job of showing how Miller is still able to sleep at night. Still the things he does in the film are despicable and I can't give a completely positive review to something that almost seems to encourage immoral behavior. It's definitely well made and involving though.

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