Breaking and Entering (2006)

A landscape architect's dealings with a young thief cause him to re-evaluate his life.

Director:

Anthony Minghella

Writer:

Anthony Minghella

Stars:

Jude Law, Robin Wright, Vera Farmiga

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jude Law	...	Will
Robin Wright	...	Liv (as Robin Wright Penn)
Martin Freeman	...	Sandy
Juliette Binoche	...	Amira
Rafi Gavron	...	Miro
Ed Westwick	...	Zoran
Serge Soric	...	Driver
Velibor Topic	...	Vlado
Rad Lazar	...	Dragan
Ting Ting Hu	...	Wei Ping (as Ting-Ting Hu)
Romi Aboulafia	...	Orit
Poppy Rogers	...	Beatrice
Eleanor Matsuura	...	Ruby
Anna Chancellor	...	Kate
Lisa Kay	...	PC Primus

Storyline

A mother and her daughter, a mother and her son, and a man living with one and attracted to the other. Miro, a teen from Sarajevo, lives near King's Cross with his mother; he's nimble, able to run across roofs, so his uncle hires him to break into office skylights, so the uncle can boost computers. Twice they steal from Will's architectural firm, so Will stakes it out at night. He follows Miro home and returns the next day and meets Miro's mother, Amira. At home, Will's relationship with Liv is strained - he feels outside Liv and her daughter Bea's circle. The stakeout and Amira's vulnerability are attractive alternatives to being at home. The police, too, watch Miro.

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Plot Keywords:

prostitute | architect | breasts | cunnilingus | taking off someone's panties | 

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Taglines:

Lie. Cheat. Steal. Love.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Juliette Binoche: The Art of Being - Official Fansite

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Serbo-Croatian

Release Date:

10 November 2006 (UK)

Also Known As:

Par effraction

Filming Locations:

Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$930,469

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,974,829

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, Mirage Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The third and final collaboration between Anthony Minghella and Jude Law. The previous were The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Cold Mountain (2003).

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Goofs

When Will drinks the coffee the sex worker brings to him at midnight, "PRET" can be seen on the coffee-cup sleeve. However, the Pret A Manger at King's Cross closes at 8pm.

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Quotes

Will Francis: Hi. I'm sorry.
Liv: You smell of perfume.
Will Francis: Well, I don't know how I do.
Liv: Nor do I.
Will Francis: I love you.
Liv: Is that an answer?
Will Francis: It's the truth. I feel as if I'm tapping on a window. You're somewhere behind the glass but you can't hear me. Even when you're angry, like now, it's like someone a long long way away is angry with me.

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Connections

Referenced in The Daily Show: Robin Wright Penn (2007)

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Soundtracks

Sé Lest
Written by Jon Thor Birgisson (as Birgisson) / Orri P. Dyrason (as Dyrason) / Georg Holm (as Holm) / Kjartan Sveinsson (as Sveinsson)
Performed by Sigur Rós (as Sigur Ros)
Licensed courtesy of EMI Records LTD for the world excluding North America
Courtesy of Geffen Records United States for North America
Licensed by permission from The Film and TV Licensing Division, part of the Universal Music Group
Published by Universal Music Publishing Ltd

User Reviews

Anthony...

Risky, risky shots is what Anthony Minghella and his team have achieved here. Things that belong far away from the the classy style of "The talented Mr. Ripley" and the classic style of "Cold Mountain". There's also a risky screenplay, an original one by the director that also stands on a different level compared to his previous adapted efforts. But what a way to keep up the good work the man has!

This is because there are things that also remain the same; the kind of things that define a director's work: like actors direction. You really need to watch Jude Law in an Anthony Minghella film because the director has made him portray all sorts of things, but here you can catch him as an everyday man, and sense his reactions to the dramatic and comic situations in a way he's not shown before. Instantly compared to "Closer", Law's work here is much more mature.

He plays Will Francis, an architect that has a project and office in a not so safe place of London: King's Cross. Now, I lived in London for six months and most of the places are known to me, but I'd never seen them from Minghella's perspective here. There's a robbery in the film and Will chases the aggressor, a kid, and after a series of events ends up involved with his mom Amira, played by Juliette Binoche...Yes, involved like the "Closer" type of involvement.

Maybe it's because Juliette Binoche can play any character and resolve any scene, but putting her character and Law's together in such a common place as the Millennium Bridge doesn't sound good with a simple look. However, in that scene Will attempts to kiss Amira; the way she rejects that kiss and the tiny instant which shows Will's afterthoughts, eliminates every other possibility and makes something good of the scene.

"Breaking and entering" is a movie about decisions, but the decisions are not evidently presented and they're not necessarily life-changing. I remember the actions of Patrick Marber's characters in "Closer", so brilliantly ruthless, but not very explained. Minghella's screenplay here leaves the viewer no doubt that every action done by every character is justified.

The kid, Miro (a promising Rafi Gavron), robs an office because he needs to prove something to himself; a detective (unexpected Ray Winstone) looks for him and tries to talk about the issue because he senses the boy has some good inside him; Will does what he does (the good and the bad) because he's a kind person; his wife (Robin Wright Penn) makes a choice because she understands.

And Amira, she's like every other mother that will go to end of the world for his son...Not caring if he's right or wrong. Mother's love is impossible to explain.