Empire has premiered the first poster and trailer for Two Faces of January, the debut feature film from Drive and Snow White and the Huntsman screenwriter Hossein Amini.
Based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, the film is set in 1962 and centers on an American couple, Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst), who arrive in Athens by boat via the Corinthian Canal. While sightseeing at the Acropolis they encounter Rydal (Isaac), a young, Greek-speaking American who is working as a tour guide, scamming tourists on the side.
[amz asin=”B00F21WVM2″ size=”small”]Drawn to Colette’s beauty and impressed by Chester’s wealth and sophistication, Rydal gladly accepts their invitation to dinner. However, all is not as it seems with the MacFarlands and Chester’s affable exterior hides darker secrets. When Rydal visits the couple at their exclusive hotel, Chester presses him to help move the body of a seemingly unconscious man who he claims attacked him. In the moment, Rydal agrees but as events take a more sinister turn he finds himself compromised and unable to pull himself free. His increasing infatuation with the vulnerable and responsive Colette gives rise to Chester’s jealousy and paranoia, leading to a tense and dangerous battle of wits between the two men.
I don’t know about you, but I keep flashing back to The Talented Mr. Ripley while reading that. I guess it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, that too was a Highsmith novel.
The film is playing at the Berlin Film Festival and is currently without a distributor or US release date. If it’s received well perhaps we’ll be seeing it stateside later this year. Watch the trailer and check out the poster below.
