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The Two Faces of January

The Two Faces of January

Movie · 2014 · 7 people

Patricia Highsmith's 1964 novel of the same name is the source of The Two Faces of January, a 2014 thriller. A French, American and British co-production backed by StudioCanal, it runs about 96 minutes and was the first feature that screenwriter Hossein Amini directed.

The story opens in 1962, when a wealthy American couple touring Europe arrives in Athens. Viggo Mortensen plays Chester MacFarland and Kirsten Dunst plays his wife Colette, while Oscar Isaac is Rydal, a young man who earns his living guiding visitors around the Acropolis. Rydal is drawn to the couple's glamour and comfortable life and accepts their dinner invitation, but an incident at their hotel reveals that this polished pair is not what it seems. He soon finds himself bound to them by crime and suspicion, and as the journey runs from Athens to Crete and on to Istanbul, loyalties among the three keep shifting. The cast also includes David Warshofsky, Daisy Bevan and the Turkish actors Yiğit Özşener and Okan Avcı.

Filming took place on location in Greece and Turkey, and at Ealing Studios in London. The film had its premiere in February 2014 in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, reaching Turkish cinemas on 16 May 2014 and German ones on 29 May 2014.

DirectorHossein Amini
Production companyStudioCanal

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Cast

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Yiğit Özşener Yiğit Özşener Actor · 54 years old Okan Avcı Okan Avcı Actor · 41 years old Viggo Mortensen Kirsten Dunst Oscar Isaac David Warshofsky Daisy Bevan

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Hossein Amini's first feature as a director carries both the strengths and the limits of his background as a screenwriter. In Patricia Highsmith adaptations the real subject is less the crime than the balance of trust and jealousy between people, and the film builds its tension that way too, out of alliances that keep shifting among three characters rather than out of action. At roughly 96 minutes the storytelling stays tight. The weak point, in my view, is the second half: the game of suspicion moves on a single note, and the question of who trusts whom risks marking time dramatically. Best suited to viewers who want a measured, classically styled thriller rather than an explosive finale.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

If you see the word thriller and expect chases and shootouts, this film is playing a different game. The tension comes from glances and from the question of who will betray whom, not from guns. The pace drags in places and the conversations run long, so impatient viewers may struggle. Still, the sense of flight from Athens to Crete and on to Istanbul gives the story momentum, and it wraps up before it outstays its welcome. Worth a shot if you're open to slow-burn suspense.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film is set in 1962, and it conveys the period through its point of view as much as through costume. The class gap between a wealthy American couple touring Europe at leisure and a young man who makes a living guiding tourists around the Acropolis is the real engine of the story. Rydal's fascination with the couple's easy life is a sharp observation about how the glitter of wealth can blind people. For Turkish viewers there is an added interest: Istanbul is one of the stops on the journey in this three-country co-production and was filmed on location, and the presence of Yiğit Özşener and Okan Avcı in the cast strengthens that link.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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