The Man from London

For the French film, see The Man from London (1943 film).
The Man from London
A shadowy figure stands at the window of an illuminated hexagonal viewing tower with a ladder in front for access. The surroundings are darkened with the exception of dimly lit multi-storey buildings in the background. Above the tower in capital letters the title of the film, THE MAN FROM LONDON, appears accompanied by a note reading "In Competition Festival du Cannes 2007" with the festival's logo on either side. At the foot of the poster, below the tower, the film's production credits are superimposed. Below it is listed the production credits.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBéla Tarr
Ágnes Hranitzky
Written byGeorges Simenon (novel)
Béla Tarr
László Krasznahorkai
Produced byHumbert Balsan
Christoph Hahnheiser
Juliusz Kossakowski (executive producer)
Lajos Szakacsi[1]
StarringMiroslav Krobot
Tilda Swinton
Janos Derzsi
Istvan Lenart
Erika Bók
CinematographyFred Kelemen
Edited byÁgnes Hranitzky
Music byMihály Vig[2]
Production
companies
Distributed byFortissimo Films
Artificial Eye
IFC Films
Release date
Running time
139 minutes
CountriesHungary
France
Germany
LanguagesEnglish
French
Budget€4.3 million[3]

The Man from London (Hungarian: A londoni férfi) is a 2007 Hungarian film directed by Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky. It is an adaptation by Tarr and his collaborator-friend László Krasznahorkai of the 1934 novel L'Homme de Londres by prolific Belgian writer Georges Simenon. The film features an international ensemble cast including Czech actor Miroslav Krobot, Briton Tilda Swinton, and Hungarian actors János Derzsi and István Lénárt. The plot follows Maloin, a nondescript railway worker who recovers a briefcase containing a significant amount of money from the scene of a murder to which he is the only witness. Wracked by guilt and fear of being discovered, Maloin sinks into despondence and frustration, which leads to acrimony in his household. Meanwhile, an English police detective investigates the disappearance of the money and the unscrupulous characters connected to the crime.

The French, German and Hungarian co-production of the film was fraught with difficulty and obstacles. The first of these was the suicide of the film's French producer, Humbert Balsan in February 2005, days before shooting was due to begin. As the original financing of the film collapsed, the remaining producers managed to secure stop-gap funding which allowed them to shoot nine days of footage on the expensive Corsican sets, until they were shut down through legal action by the local subcontractor. After many expressions of support from European film organisations, production companies and government bodies, a new co-production contract was signed in July 2005 with a revised budget and shooting schedule. It then emerged that all rights to the film had been ceded to a French bank under the original production agreement, and only after further changes in the film's backers was a deal struck with the bank to allow shooting to resume in March 2006, over a year later than had been originally envisaged.

The Man from London was the first of Tarr's films to premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, but despite being highly anticipated, it won no prize. The French distributor blamed this on poor dubbing and a late showing, though the press was put off by the film's extended shots and leaden pace. After being re-dubbed, it was shown on the international film festival circuit.

Critical reception to The Man from London was generally positive, though less adamant than that of the director's previous two works; while reviewers spoke in glowing terms of the formidable cinematography and meticulous composition, they felt the film lacked compelling characters. Variety reviewer Derek Elley commented that the film was unlikely to reconcile the division between viewers of Tarr's films who find the director to be "either a visionary genius or a crashing bore".[4]

  1. ^ "The Man from London (2007) - IMDb". IMDb.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference allmovie was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference filmunio was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference variety was invoked but never defined (see the help page).