The American (2010 film)
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''The American'' is a 2010 American action thriller film directed by
Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner"' ...
and starring
George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...
,
Thekla Reuten Thekla Simona Gelsomina Reuten (born 16 September 1975) is a Dutch actress. Life and career Reuten was born in Bussum, Netherlands, the daughter of a Dutch father, Joost Reuten, and an Italian mother, who was born in Benabbio near Bagni di Lucc ...
,
Violante Placido Maria Violante Placido (; born 1 May 1976) is an Italian actress and singer. Early life Placido was born in Rome, Italy. She is the daughter of actor-director Michele Placido and actress Simonetta Stefanelli. Career Film Her film debut was al ...
,
Irina Björklund Irina Felicia Björklund (born 7 February 1973) is a Finnish actress and singer. Early life and education Björklund was born in Danderyd, Stockholm County, Sweden before moving to Finland with her family. Björklund also lived in France during h ...
, and Paolo Bonacelli. Based on the 1990 novel ''
A Very Private Gentleman ''A Very Private Gentleman'' is a novel written by British author Martin Booth, published in 1990. It is a tragedy following events in the life of a gunsmith who sells his services to assassins. The style is also partly in the form of classic c ...
'' by
Martin Booth Martin Booth (7 September 1944 – 12 February 2004) was an English novelist and poet. He also worked as a teacher and screenwriter, and was the founder of the Sceptre Press. Early life Martin Booth was born in Lancashire England, the son of ...
, it was loosely adapted to screenplay by Rowan Joffé. The film was released on September 1, 2010. It received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $67 million worldwide.


Plot

Jack, a gunsmith and contract killer, and his lover, Ingrid, are relaxing in Sweden. As they walk in the wilderness outside their cabin, Jack becomes alarmed by a trail of footprints in the snow and pulls Ingrid towards shelter. Sniper gunshots ring out. Ingrid sees Jack pull a gun from his pocket and shoot the sniper. Knowing his identity is in jeopardy, and with little hesitation, Jack kills Ingrid before locating and killing another armed man. He flees to Rome and contacts his handler, Pavel, who insists that Jack cannot stay in Rome. Pavel sends him to Castelvecchio, a small town in the mountains of
Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...
. Jack becomes nervous, and disposing of the cell phone Pavel gave him, goes to nearby Castel del Monte instead—where he uses the name Edward. While in Abruzzo, Jack contacts Pavel, who sets him up with another job. He meets Mathilde, an assassin who wants him to build her a custom sniper rifle. He also begins patronizing a prostitute, Clara, and they begin a relationship. Jack borrows tools from the priest's friend and builds a silencer. Jack continues to notice he's being followed by a man. He meets with Mathilde to test the weapon. She is impressed by the craftsmanship but asks him to make a few more adjustments. Later, Jack kills the man following him; an assassin from Sweden. Jack is tormented by dreams of the events in Sweden and regrets killing Ingrid. His friendship and conversations with a local priest, Father Benedetto, encourage him to question his life choices. Both Mathilde and Clara notice Jack's association with butterflies, Mathilde by his expertise in endangered butterflies, and Clara by his prominent tattoo. When Father Benedetto tells Jack he senses he lives in a special kind of hell, "a place without love", Jack starts to let himself feel love for Clara and envisions a life with her. Jack talks to Pavel, asking how the Swedes have found him. In his growing fear, he even suspects Clara when he discovers a small pistol in her purse. He questions Clara about the gun and is satisfied with her explanation (to defend herself, since newspapers have reported murdered prostitutes). Jack agrees to deliver the weapon to Mathilde as his last job, but at the last moment, he re-opens the briefcase. At the drop-off, Jack becomes suspicious that Mathilde plans to kill him. Before anything can happen, a bus load of school children arrives. Mathilde gives Jack his payment—a thick envelope full of cash—and the two separate. As Mathilde drives away, Pavel contacts her and asks if she has killed Jack. She tells him she has not, but says she is following him and will kill him. Clara meets Jack at a religious procession in town. Jack asks her to go away with him and she agrees. Mathilde tries to shoot Jack from a nearby rooftop but the rifle backfires in her face, confirming Jack's suspicion and his last-minute decision to sabotage the rifle. Seeing Mathilde fall from the roof, Jack gives Clara the envelope full of cash and tells her to go to a river where they had picnicked before and wait for him. He runs to Mathilde, who is dying on the pavement, and discovers that she also works for Pavel. As Jack goes to meet Clara, he hears Pavel behind him. They exchange gunfire and Pavel drops dead. As Jack drives to meet Clara at the river, he feels his abdomen and realizes he has been shot. Jack arrives at the picnic spot and as he sees Clara, he collapses. Clara screams and runs to the car. A white butterfly flits skyward from Jack's car.


Cast

*
George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...
as Jack/Edward *
Violante Placido Maria Violante Placido (; born 1 May 1976) is an Italian actress and singer. Early life Placido was born in Rome, Italy. She is the daughter of actor-director Michele Placido and actress Simonetta Stefanelli. Career Film Her film debut was al ...
as Clara *
Thekla Reuten Thekla Simona Gelsomina Reuten (born 16 September 1975) is a Dutch actress. Life and career Reuten was born in Bussum, Netherlands, the daughter of a Dutch father, Joost Reuten, and an Italian mother, who was born in Benabbio near Bagni di Lucc ...
as Mathilde * Paolo Bonacelli as Father Benedetto *
Irina Björklund Irina Felicia Björklund (born 7 February 1973) is a Finnish actress and singer. Early life and education Björklund was born in Danderyd, Stockholm County, Sweden before moving to Finland with her family. Björklund also lived in France during h ...
as Ingrid *
Johan Leysen Johan Leysen (19 February 1950 – 30 March 2023) was a Belgian actor. He appeared in more than 130 films and television shows from 1977. He starred in the film '' De grens'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1984 Canne ...
as Pavel * Filippo Timi as Fabio *
Anna Foglietta Anna Foglietta (born 3 April 1979) is an Italian actress. She has appeared in the films ''Escort in Love'' and ''Ex – Amici come prima!''. She has also appeared in several television series such as ''Distretto di Polizia'' and ''The Mafia Kill ...
as Anna *
Björn Granath Björn Gösta Tryggve Granath (5 April 1946 – 5 February 2017) was a Swedish actor who appeared in over 100 films and television shows. Granath was born in Örgryte, Gothenburg, Sweden. He starred in a broad range of roles from comedic t ...
as the Swedish Assassin


Production

Filming began in September 2009 and took place in Castel del Monte, Sulmona,
Castelvecchio Calvisio Castelvecchio Calvisio is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park. The 2010 film '' Bad Mom's Christmas'' has scenes set there. The town i ...
,
Calascio Calascio is a ''comune'' and village in the province of L'Aquila, in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It is located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park. History The existence of the village, of Norman origin, is already testi ...
and
Campo Imperatore Campo Imperatore ("Emperor's Field") is a mountain grassland or alpine meadow formed by a high basin shaped plateau located above Gran Sasso massif, the largest plateau of Apennine ridge. Known as "Little Tibet", it is located in Gran Sasso e M ...
in the Province of L'Aquila (
Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...
); in Rome, and in
Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...
,
Jämtland Jämtland (; no, Jemtland or , ; Jamtish: ''Jamtlann''; la, Iemptia) is a historical province () in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland to the north a ...
and other locations. As the Clooney character drives from Rome to Castel del Monte, there is an impressively long drive through the 4600-meter long San Domenico Tunnel (Galleria San Domenico) that is between the exits of Pescina and Cocullo on the A25 highway that connects Rome to Torano and
Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...
. The car driven by Jack in the movie is a
Fiat Tempra The Fiat Tempra (Type 159) is a small family car produced by the Italian automaker Fiat from 1990 to 1996 in Italy. The Tempra was intended as a replacement for the Fiat Regata. The original project was called ''Tipo 3'', being a mid size car be ...
with Pescara licence plates. The film's "most romantic moment", according to director Anton Corbijn—when Jack takes Clara to a restaurant of her choice, their "actual date"—was filmed at a restaurant in
Pacentro Pacentro is a ''comune'' of 1,279 inhabitants of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is a well-preserved historic medieval village located in central Italy, several kilometers from the City of Sulmona about east of Rome. Pacentro has ...
, near Sulmona. The comic-acting waiter in this restaurant scene was directed to stand in front of a two-bulb lamp fixture so that he appeared to have "devil's horns". Photographs on the restaurant's walls are reportedly all of the lovers of Gabriele D'Annunzio. Clara orders Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wine for the dinner, and Corbijn said the film's company enjoyed many of the fine wines of the region during the months of production there. The
film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
was written and composed by German singer-songwriter (and longtime friend of Corbijn)
Herbert Grönemeyer Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Pete ...
. A 1967 song called "Window of My Eyes" by the Dutch blues band Cuby + Blizzards is played over the ending credits. The aria "
Un bel dì, vedremo "" (; "One fine day we'll see") is a soprano aria from the opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "ope ...
" ("One fine day we'll see") from Puccini's opera ''
Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...
'' can be heard in the background of one scene, and " Tu vuò fà l'americano" in another. In another scene, the Italian song " La bambola" by
Patty Pravo Patty Pravo (born Nicoletta Strambelli on 9 April 1948) is an Italian singer. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful commercially for the rest of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Having suffered a decline in popularity in the followin ...
plays.


Western films and other influences

''
Once Upon a Time in the West ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' ( , "Once upon a time (there was) the West") is a 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Leone ...
'' (1968), with Henry Fonda facing off as a villain in a gunfight, is playing on television on the back wall of a modest restaurant where Jack has been eating. In the DVD commentary, Corbijn notes this
homage Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...
and says the American Western—and more specifically the Italian-American
Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
s by Leone and others—were explicit models for ''The American''. Corbijn also notes the
Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...
scores made famous in ''Once Upon a Time in the West'', '' The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (1966), and other films.Director commentary on DVD. Retrieved July 22, 2011. Speaking of the narrow, labyrinthine streets of the Italian hill towns where much of the action of ''The American'' occurs, Corbijn says he was thinking, in filming, of the streets of
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
and the way they appeared in Nicolas Roeg's ''
Don't Look Now ''Don't Look Now'' ( it, A Venezia... un Dicembre rosso shocking, lit=In Venice... a shocking red December) is a 1973 English-language film in the thriller genre directed by Nicolas Roeg, adapted from the 1971 short story by Daphne du Mauri ...
'' (1973). Large segments of the dialogue between Jack and Clara are taken verbatim from
Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 â€“ 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
's novel '' The Honorary Consul'' (1973).


Release


Marketing

The first official poster was released on June 17, 2010. The first trailer was attached to '' Robin Hood'' and the second official trailer on June 19, 2010, and was attached to '' Jonah Hex'', '' Grown Ups'', '' Inception'' and ''
The Other Guys ''The Other Guys'' is a 2010 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Adam McKay, who co-wrote it with Chris Henchy. It stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg with Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jac ...
''.


Box office

''The American'' grossed $35.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $32.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total $67.9 million, against a production budget of $20 million. The film debuted to $13.2 million, including a total of $16.7 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend, topping the box office. It fell 57% to $5.7 million in its second weekend, finishing third, and another 53% to $2.7 million in its third weekend.


Critical response

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film holds an approval rating 66% based on 224 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus states: "As beautifully shot as it is emotionally restrained, ''The American'' is an unusually divisive spy thriller—and one that rests on an unusually subdued performance from George Clooney." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "D−" on an A+ to F scale. The score was attributed to disappointment after the film was marketed as being action-packed instead of focusing on suspense and drama. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
s Peter Travers gave the film two-and-a-half stars, writing that director Anton Corbijn "holds his film to a steady, often glacial pace", and that the result is of "startling austerity".
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film four stars, writing, "Here is a gripping film with the focus of a Japanese drama, an impenetrable character to equal
Alain Delon Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; born 8 November 1935) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was one of Europe's most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for h ...
's in ''
Le Samouraï ''Le Samouraï'' (; ), is a 1967 neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The film follows a professional hitman named Jef Costello who is identified by witnesses and his efforts to provide himself with an alibi ...
'', by Jean-Pierre Melville." Leonard Maltin called it a "slowly paced, European-style mood piece, short on dialogue and action and long on atmosphere".


Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 28, 2010.


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:American 2010 films 2010 crime thriller films 2010 action thriller films Abruzzo American crime thriller films American action thriller films 2010s English-language films 2010s Italian-language films Films about contract killing in the United States Films based on British novels Films based on crime novels Films directed by Anton Corbijn Films produced by Anne Carey Films produced by George Clooney Films produced by Grant Heslov Films set in Abruzzo Films set in Italy Films set in Sweden Films shot in Italy Films shot in Rome Focus Features films Smokehouse Pictures films 2010 multilingual films American multilingual films 2010s American films