Barney's Version (15)

Drama (2010)
134mins Can/It

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Dustin Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Scott Speedman, Rachelle Lefevre
Director: Richard J Lewis
Writer(s): Michael Konyves
Listings: London | Rest of UK and Ireland

Barney weds his first wife, free spirit Clara, in Rome but their marriage ends in bitterness and resentment and Barney returns to America where he walks down the aisle with a chatterbox Jewish princess. At the wedding reception, Barney meets the beautiful Miriam, and he is instantly smitten. With the party going on around him, Barney begins his tenacious pursuit of Miriam, who rebuffs the advances of the groom as best she can.

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LondonNet Film Review
Barney's Version

Richard J Lewis's humorous character study charts the romantic entanglements of a politically incorrect man, based on the award-winning novel by Mordecai Richler...

. Anchored by a sterling performance from Paul Giamatti, which won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), Barney's Version is a slow-paced murder mystery. The chief suspect is the malcontent protagonist and we're asked to swallow his version of events until the film's closing frames. A mosaic of flashbacks gradually exposes the sad truth, not that screenwriter Michael Konyves is in any hurry to get there, stringing us along for 133 minutes. Giamatti's lead performance, which curries no sympathy, is matched by Rosamund Pike as the object of his fickle affections. After a strong supporting turn in Made In Dagenham, the British actress is absolutely luminous here and it's easy to see why Barney would set his life on self-destruct to woo her. More problematic is why she would return the advances of a man who is deservedly described by his father as miserable and ungrateful.

Barney Panofsky (Giamatti) weds his first wife, free spirit Clara (Rachelle Lefevre), in Rome but their marriage ends in bitterness, resentment and tragedy. Barney returns to America and his thankless job as a TV producer for Totally Unnecessary Productions, which makes the low grade serial, O'Malley Of The North. Within months he walks down the aisle with a chatterbox Jewish princess (Minnie Driver). At the wedding reception, Barney meets the beautiful Miriam (Rosamund Pike), and he is smitten. "For the first time in my life I am truly, seriously, irretrievably in love," Barney tells best friend Boogie (Scott Speedman). With the party going on around him, Barney begins his tenacious pursuit of Miriam, who rebuffs the advances of the groom. Boogie offers his sobering assessment of Barney's marriage to the second Mrs P: "Look what you've become. A TV hustler, married to a rich man's vulgar daughter." Convinced that Miriam is his one true love and buoyed by the advice of his father (Dustin Hoffman), Barney continues to follow his heart, regardless of who he hurts.

Barney's Version tests our patience by asking us to spend half a lifetime in the company of a man who can suck the fun out of a room by simply walking into it. If there is a cinematic equivalent of a downer, it's Barney Panofsky. Our emotional ties are all to Miriam and when Detective O'Hearne (Mark Addy) re-appears in the present day, vowing to expose Barney as a murderer, we don't care if he is found guilty. He doesn't have a positive impact on any of the other characters so won't be missed.

- Kim Hu

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