The Interpreter (2005)

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writers (WGA):

Martin Stellman (story) &
Brian Ward (story) ...

Release Date:

22 April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The truth needs no translation.

Plot:

Political intrigue and deception unfold inside the United Nations, where a US Secret Service agent is assigned to investigate an interpreter who overhears an assassination plot.

Plot Keywords:

Interpreter | Secret Service | United Nations | New York City | Flashback

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Nicole Kidman	...	Silvia Broome
Sean Penn	...	Tobin Keller
Catherine Keener	...	Dot Woods
Jesper Christensen	...	Nils Lud
Yvan Attal	...	Philippe
Earl Cameron	...	Zuwanie
George Harris	...	Kuman-Kuman
Michael Wright	...	Marcus
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Police Chief Lee Wu
Eric Keenleyside	...	Rory Robb
Hugo Speer	...	Simon Broome
Maz Jobrani	...	Mo
Yusuf Gatewood	...	Doug
Curtiss Cook	...	Ajene Xola (as Curtiss I'Cook)
Byron Utley	...	Jean Gamba

Also Known As:

L'interprète (France)
La intérprete (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Переводчица (Russia) [ru]
Çevirmen (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
A Intérprete (Brazil) [pt]
Die Dolmetscherin (Germany) [de]
I diermineas (Greece) [el]
L'interprète (Canada: French title) [fr]
Prevoditeljica (Croatia) [hr]
Tõlk (Estonia) [et]
Tolken (Norway) [no]
Tolken (Sweden) [sv]
Tolken (Denmark) [da]
Tulkki (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, some sexual content and brief strong language.

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

UK | USA | France

Language:

Aboriginal | English | French | Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:U | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41613) | Denmark:11 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | France:U | UK:12 (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

East 9th Street & Stuyvesant Street, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Despite the high security at the U.N. and terror alerts, crew members were allowed to bring in knives for their work.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: During the scene when Silvia is trying to escape from Jean Gamba (when he's threatening to run her over on her Vespa), she is seen initially going up 4th Avenue, but then it switches to her going up Lafayette Street, which is lower than 4th Avenue. Then she is finally seen heading towards Chinatown via Lafayette; this is the opposite direction of where she had been heading towards the entire time.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Simon Broome: She wouldn't tell me her husband's name. She wouldn't even write it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#22.43)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

F Stop Blues

a thought or two on The Interpreter

Last night, I watched The Interpreter, primarily because I wanted to see if Sydney Pollack still had it and in my humble opinion, he does. I don't see too much film-making like this these days. For one thing, it's slow, but in a good way. Too many suspense films speed by at such an absurd rate that there's never any time for a mood to be built or characters to be known. Here, we get to know the characters intimately and are gradually drawn into the complex and compelling and relevant plot. Speaking of relevance, there is, here, a "message", but it's delivered organically by way of carefully structured storytelling and character development, not with a bullhorn and fireworks and speaking of characters, I love the understated performances in this film by Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman. I love also the moments in this film, such as when Penn's character in a country-western bar unplugs the jukebox to stop the noise of some country-pop crap then restarts it in order to play Lyle Lovett's wonderful "If I Had a Boat" then goes to a pay phone and calls his own house just to hear his wife's voice on the answering machine.

Also, while I have nothing against fast, action-adventure-cartoon-type violence when it's done just right. The violence in this film isn't exciting. It's just as it should be considering the subject matter. It's sad and desolate and when a man speaks his last words to the child-soldier who has just shot him and when a bus is bombed or a desperate man is betrayed and murdered you feel it, the final moments of human lives; a being being taken away. There's room for sentiment in such films and it doesn't have to be sap as it so often is.

I don't follow entertainment news much these days (much as I'd love to) because such stories and reviews and even trailers (which I also used to love watching) give away far too much of the story (which I'm trying here not to do) so I don't know how this film was received, but I hope it did well and if it didn't, I hope audiences come to discover and love it gradually so that there might be more films like it.