Arbitrage (2012, Dir. Nicholas Jarecki, USA) (Cert: 15) ***

Robert Miller (Gere) is a billionaire businessman, beloved by many. However, he leads a double life. Through his business, he’s committing fraud that, if discovered, could land him in prison for many years. On his sixtieth birthday, Miller decides to run away with his mistress (Laeticia Casta) and live upstate. On the journey there, Robert falls asleep at the wheel and crashes the car, injuring himself and killing his lover. Desperate not to be found out, both for the murder and the fraud that may be uncovered as a result, Robert concocts a web of lies.

... There are fundamental problems with Arbitrage and perhaps the biggest falls down to the main character. Richard Gere delivers a satisfactory performance as a man whose life falls to hell, but the main issue is that he’s the villain, not the hero. That, of course, isn’t to say that a main character should always be the hero. Al Pacino (who, coincidentally, Gere replaced in this role) provided perhaps the best example as Michael Corleone in the Godfather trilogy (1972 – 90), but this film is , obviously, not on a par with The Godfather in neither writing nor performance. But given the story, and the climate that it’s been made in, it’s unsure whether we should sympathise with Gere, with or find him repugnant. Elsewhere, the supporting cast does a good job. Susan Sarandon is completely believable as Gere’s patient and more sympathetic wife, but Tim Roth, a fine actor, delivers a pretty bad “Noo Yawk” accent as the detective assigned to the case of the car crash. Strange, considering his near flawless American accent in Reservoir Dogs, twenty years before. The best element in the story is Roth and his dealings with a young man played by Nate Parker who helps Gere. With more emphaisis on that, this film could’ve been improved a fair amount.

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