Match Point

—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (Scarlett Johansson)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads

The man who said 'I'd rather be lucky than good’ saw deeply into life. On the screen in front of us a lone tennis ball goes from one side of the court to another. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. The ball keeps going and the unseen Irish voice keeps speaking. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. Back and forth. Back and forth. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, the ball pauses above the net, and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. The ball begins to come back down. With a little luck, it goes forward and you win…or maybe it doesn’t, and you lose. The voice stops and the ball drops.

Meet Chris Wilton, ex-tennis star, current tennis instructor, and main character of Woody Allen’s newest cinematic installment, Match Point. He is young, he is handsome, and he is talented. But most of all, he believes in luck.

All of us are familiar with the idea of luck. We use the word all the time.

“Good Luck!� Goodbye wave. Shout down the street. Off to a test/an interview/a new job/an opening performance.

“Looks like someone got lucky last night??!� Wink, wink. Roommate one. Nod, nod. Roommate two.

“You know, you are lucky to be alive.� White coat doctor leans over hospital gown patient. Bright lights shine. Blood seeps through bandages.

“You luuucky bastard…� Average guy points to supermodel girl walking in bar door. Eyebrows raise. That’s your fiancée? Quiet whistle to the left. Pat on the shoulder from the right.

“Talk…about…lucky.� A man’s wife returns home barely five minutes after his mistress leaves…a driver slows down from twice the speed limit right before he passes cops on both sides of the highway….

“I can’t believe how lucky I am.� Ralph Lauren man looks across Martha’s Vineyard lawn at Calvin Klein kids, Estée Lauder wife, and company Mercedes.

“Just…my…luck!� Chance meeting of a man, his mistress, and his brother-in-law in hotel lobby… Already late for the airport. Flat tire. No spare

Luck—referred to often, but barely contemplated for more than the second it takes to utter it. It is that extra help that goes beyond what we can do. It is that unexpected escape that defies negative odds. It is that undeserved pardon that eliminates consequences we had coming straight at us. It is that circumstance, possession, or way of life we did not earn and certainly do not deserve. And sometimes, luck is that little thing that just throws things off without even bothering to consult us.

For Chris Wilton, this is what he sees as the defining factor in his life. Luck that he lands the job he did. Luck that Tom Hewett is his first pupil. Luck that both he and Tom like opera. Luck that Tom has a beautiful sister. Bad luck that Tom also has a sexy fiancée (Nola). Bad luck that Chris is already married when Nola is no longer Tom’s fiancée.

Watching Chris’ life unfold, however, it is difficult to believe that luck is all this life is about. He may have had some luck getting his job and meeting the Hewetts, but if he did not have his background, if he had not made an effort, if he had not made a move, he would not have become as much a part of the family as he did. And when it comes to Nola and the mess that ensues there, as she herself puts it, Chris sure plays an aggressive (and very intentional) game.

As life takes a turn for the worse, it can be almost comforting to believe in luck. It provides a reason to feel sorry for yourself. After all, you didn’t exactly ask for this. It tells you that you have no reason to feel guilty. It’s not like you had a choice when it came to what has lead you down this road. And for Chris, that is exactly the way life is.

The problem is, that just is not realistic. Chris may say bad luck. All we can think is—he could’ve just let it go. He may say worse luck. All we can say is—he statistically had it coming. He may say good luck. But all we can see are the actions and guilt his “luck� will forever keep hidden and growing inside of him. He claims no choice, but then makes one, and all the audience I was a part of could do was groan and curse, not his luck, not chance, but every action he took that just made you want to pull him off the screen and tell him how stupid he was being.

As a story, Match Point reminds me of this years’ earlier Derailed, both stories about men seemingly compelled to do reckless things to get themselves out of a bad situation. The difference is, Derailed’s main character has something stronger than coincidence pulling him down, genuinely wants to make things right, and actually thinks of others’ well-beings. Chris on the other hand? I don’t think he ever thinks about anyone else’s well-being. And let’s just say when he tells Nola he’s going to do the right thing, right is about the furthest adjective I’d use to describe his actions.

Like almost every Woody Allen movie, Match Point is definitely an interesting meditation on the meaning of life and why it turns out like it does. He once again gives his characters depth that pushes us to look at ourselves and question how we view life. At times the story can seems a bit contrived, some action or scene leaving you looking for a bit more motivation to explain its reasoning. It does have a few scenes that border on overstatement. But overall, Match Point is a well done movie that truly gets you thinking about life and respectfully leaves you to work out the answers for yourself.

As I think about life, I know that actions make a difference. I also can’t deny that there are things beyond our control that sometimes seem to make that final difference. This world is a world of choice. But, as Match Point hints, it is also a world affected by something more. Sometimes that something more gets us to the right place to do what we need to do. Other times it gives us that extra help when we’ve done all we can do. And, as the similarly contemplative Run Lola Run points out, something bigger than us allows us to escape the negative more often than we may realize.

Chris Wilton may call these out-of-our-hands events luck. But as I look at the world around me, I cannot believe that they are just luck. I cannot believe that everything that happens just happens. In a world that is defined by our actions but not entirely, I know that getting more than we have earned and getting out of what we do deserve are blessings that we should not just shrug off as chance.

There is a hand in this world that is bigger than ours. I think it is God, unfortunately sometimes Satan. But unlike the hand of luck Chris saw as his boon and his savior, the hand of the God that I believe in sacrificed too much to merely change the surface and leave us suffering inside. The hand of God I know is ready and able to give us more than we ever deserve, to give to us a promise that just because we cannot control of everything, we do not have to live in fear.

— Overview