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Last Night

[2010]
TFF 11
Feature Narrative | 90 min | Spotlight

Synopsis

New York City is a stunning backdrop for this story of a successful, gorgeous, and outwardly perfect married couple confronting the turbulence of temptation. Joanna (Academy Award® nominee Keira Knightley) and Michael Reed (Sam Worthington) are seven years into a loyal and healthy marriage, both balancing challenging but rewarding careers, and enjoying what the city has to offer. One night when the Reeds attend a company party, Joanna witnesses an exchange of glances between her husband and a sexy colleague, Laura (the smart and seductive Eva Mendes), whom Michael never mentioned before. Suspicion mounts when Michael heads out on a business trip with the attractive co-worker in tow. As Joanna begins to doubt Michael's intentions, she finds herself facing her own temptation when her ex-lover Alex (the handsome Guillaume Canet) resurfaces.

Writer/director Massy Tadjedin gently exposes the tangled web of emotions surrounding doubt and jealousy that subtly tug at the seams of a modern relationship in this finely woven tale. Knightley and Worthington bring maturity and confidence to this city couple in crisis, and temper both with just the right amount of vulnerability.

--Genna Terranova

About The Director(s)

MASSY TADJEDIN was born in Tehran, grew up in Orange County, and studied English literature at Harvard. In 2002, she wrote and produced Leo, featuring Joseph Fiennes, and in 2005 she won acclaim for the screenplay of The Jacket, featuring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley. She is at work on two films, Long Lost and Wednesday.

Director Statement

Our plot is simple but hopefully a little unpredictable. Though little actually happens, a great deal in four lives is challenged over the course of a night.

We've all likely been one or more of these characters, and I suppose the film is an attempt to make sense of that, so I wanted all of it to feel as truthful as possible. The deliberate pace of the film—sometimes slow, sometimes breathless, like life—hopefully helps with that tone.

Still, the night over which most of the film takes place is one of the most romantic and unforgettable nights in each of the four characters' lives, and I wanted the film to capture that as well. We shot in anamorphic—the most beautiful format for me—and had many wide shots to show the performances as fully as possible. The unspoken languages of the characters' bodies—the familiarities, the hesitations, the tensions, the newnesses—are as important as the spoken words, just as everything that doesn't happen in the film is hopefully as meaningful as everything that does.

In keeping with our intention to be truthful, the film doesn't answer the questions it raises—just as life doesn't.

Film Contacts

Director's Agent
Maha Dakhil
Creative Artists Agency
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Phone: 424.288.2000
Email: mdakhil@caa.com