Featured Audience Ratings

• Emil K

  
  For me director/writer/producer Anthony Minghella was one of the great storytellers of our times and Breaking and Entering was his best film. This last film of his has poetic and elegant style which is something truly rare to see in films these days anymore. While many may remember… More
  For me director/writer/producer Anthony Minghella was one of the great storytellers of our times and Breaking and Entering was his best film. This last film of his has poetic and elegant style which is something truly rare to see in films these days anymore. While many may remember Minghella better from his critically acclaimed English Patient and majestic epic Cold Mountain, Breaking and Entering is the one film he should be remembered of. Even the biggest films of his are about humans, not about some handsomely staged action set-pieces or spectacular effects. His films has always centered on us humans and that said in my opinion Minghella might be one of the most gifted writers when it comes to human emotions. Like in here or in many other of his stories (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain) he seems to understand his characters. These people are not just some caricatures, they feel real and do mistakes like we people in the real world also. There are not a single one dimensional character in Breaking and Entering. These characters are complex and capable to do bad things as they are capable of doing good things. Minghella is not trying to make world look better place and show humans without their flaws. This film feels honest and has raw intensity which is hard to describe. On it's surface it is so perfectly balanced and so beautifully controlled and shot film that it for me it felt miracle while i was watching it. With great support from talented cinematographer Benoit Delhomme and composer Gabriel Yared and Underworld, Minghella creates a film which has kinda jazzy and melancholic vibe in it. And while it may even have some very dark themes in it, it still does not feel depressing. Actually in the Breaking and Entering turns out to be very uplifting film. It does have silent optimism in it's story and Minghella seems to believe in second chances in life and forgiveness which one of the major themes of the film. A scrpit which centers this heavily on it's characters needs a great actors to make these characters alive and believable. Minghella has always been a great director when it comes to casting his films but here he has certainly assembled his most gifted cast to to date. It is unbelievable to see Jude Law, Robin Wright and Juliette Binoche in a leading roles doing some of their very best work. I have always admired all of these great actors but hardly have they ever gave performances as great as here. Especially Jude Law does his career best performance here as Will Francis. It is amazing how all of these characters do unsymphatetic things and still Minghella manages not to lose our sympathy towards them. It takes hell of a talented director to pull out something like that. Basically this whole film begins from a burglary and from there it goes to unexpected directions ending up a being one of the most emotionally devastating films i have ever witnessed. Minghella does not need huge gestures or broad strokes as a filmmaker to pull out big emotions from us in the audience. Here he has trusted his story and his actors and the effect is just pure brilliance. Breaking and Entering may have two or three elements too many but It does not lose it's grip from the central story barely ever. Here is a film that is overlooked and underrated. Anthony Minghella was truly talented person as a director.

• Universal D

  
  Anthony Minghella's script, about family, motherhood, immigration, urban renewal, integration, is maybe overambitious as not every subject is handled, or settled, with resolve. Nonetheless the proceedings never fail to be interesting and some moments sparkle.

• Emile T

  
  Minghella has to do with a very undefined and illogical screenplay that makes it all feel distant and the director still manages to bring to the screen some very nice and emotional moments. This is not a disaster, but surely could have been without Minghella's sensitive touch and… More
  Minghella has to do with a very undefined and illogical screenplay that makes it all feel distant and the director still manages to bring to the screen some very nice and emotional moments. This is not a disaster, but surely could have been without Minghella's sensitive touch and the good cast.

• Thomas J

  
  There was just too much going on to know what was the REAL story being told. The build up is way too slow because where the movie ends, to me, is where the story really had potential. To me the "thief" is the story, but it is lost with all the unnecessary scenes in… More
  There was just too much going on to know what was the REAL story being told. The build up is way too slow because where the movie ends, to me, is where the story really had potential. To me the "thief" is the story, but it is lost with all the unnecessary scenes in bathtubs! Does it require acting for Jude Law to portray a man incapable of monogamy? lol

• Conner R

  
  An extremely good cast and acting performances, but the script was just a little odd at times and had unnecessary characters. The angsty teenage son of Juliette Binoche was just annoying. I did think it could have been a really great movie if certain aspects were changed.

• Ross C

  
  A typical British TV drama with an ultimately pointless story, but pleasant enough to watch. The London settings and brief bits of parkour add interest.

• Candy R

  
  The most dramatic thing is the movie title. Poor storyline. Weird people. Bad accents. An hour in and still nothing has happened. Waste of time. Avoid!

• Lady D

  
  Entertaining and different, a love triangle with unusual circumstances. An easy laid back watch.

• Sanjaya &

  
  This is the third Anthony Minghella film I ever watched after English Patient and Cold Mountain and the score still same... It just an ordinary story, nothing exceptional or great about this movie... The cast didn't show their best... Jude Law, Robin Wright, and Juliette Binoche,… More
  This is the third Anthony Minghella film I ever watched after English Patient and Cold Mountain and the score still same... It just an ordinary story, nothing exceptional or great about this movie... The cast didn't show their best... Jude Law, Robin Wright, and Juliette Binoche, they didn't show their best performance... Even Jude Law accent is kinda disappear in this movie, because I thought his accent makes him for having a better performance... Robin Wright, she played well in Forrest Gump but in this movie she just played very ordinary nothing special... And Juliette Binoche too... I just know that Minghella types of movies that having some sex scenes with just an ordinary story.. First English Patient, then Cold Mountain, and now Breaking And Entering, they're all just the same... Nothing special.. Maybe just Minghella can get a good cast for his movie so that makes people wants to watch his movie...

• Red L

  
  There are a lot of sub story lines in this movie - Liv's daughter, the hooker at King's Crossing, immigrant crime, what is urban environmental architecture, depression, cheating, etc. -- the story goes around in circles a bit. I don't understand Jude Law's… More
  There are a lot of sub story lines in this movie - Liv's daughter, the hooker at King's Crossing, immigrant crime, what is urban environmental architecture, depression, cheating, etc. -- the story goes around in circles a bit. I don't understand Jude Law's character (Will).

• Bannan i

  
  A bittersweet story about an architect would should be happy...but somehow isn't. Once his building gets broken into he spends less and less time at home and more time obsessing over the fact of who this thief is and how they got in. Along the way he gets led unexpectedly to the… More
  A bittersweet story about an architect would should be happy...but somehow isn't. Once his building gets broken into he spends less and less time at home and more time obsessing over the fact of who this thief is and how they got in. Along the way he gets led unexpectedly to the home of set thief and breaks into the life of his mother. Strange, sad, beautiful and moving at times. Life can be so damn surprising sometimes. Perhaps this is a story of redemption or salvation of sorts. Amazing acting from most of the actors in this film, the strongest I found being the roles played by Vera Farmiga, Robin Wright Penn and Juliette Binoche.

• Dean M

  
  This arresting and secret affair film directed by Anthony Minghella is a fascinating and complex story with impressive cast.

• Luke B

  
  Minghella's latest keeps its audience at an emotional distance, much like that of the characters themselves. A group of complex characters lives intertwine only to have most complexity abolished by everyone stating their feelings and beliefs. It just about holds togetehr the… More
  Minghella's latest keeps its audience at an emotional distance, much like that of the characters themselves. A group of complex characters lives intertwine only to have most complexity abolished by everyone stating their feelings and beliefs. It just about holds togetehr the believability and the acting is superb. Winstone shines as a compassionate policeman called Bruno Fella (brilliant name), although he has barely any screentime. Law seems to cruise along at his expected pace, and although the free-running scenes are brilliant the parts seem to be chosen on these skills rather than their acting. Rather than presenting its beliefs it froces them upon us and raises the sentimental just to make sure it achieves some connection. When people aren't discussing the movies themes the dialogue is spot on not to mention quite amusing. A good film, certainly not a great one.

• Roy G

  
  Despite its title, Breaking and Entering doesn't crack these characters and doesn't let us see inside them...

• William D

  
  [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]My God, it's happening again. [/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]Just a couple weeks ago I was lamenting the fact that a rich, beautiful, intelligent film like The Painted Veil was going almost completely unnoticed in the United States. I never… More
  [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]My God, it's happening again. [/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]Just a couple weeks ago I was lamenting the fact that a rich, beautiful, intelligent film like The Painted Veil was going almost completely unnoticed in the United States. I never dreamed that it would happen again less than a month later![/size][/font] [img]http://www.metroactive.com/metro/02.14.07/gifs/breaking.jpg[/img] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]But it has. Breaking & Entering, a wonderful if slightly over-long film written and directed by Anthony Minghella, recently opened in the U.S., and no one has noticed. The first really good film of 2007, and it barely registers on the cultural radar. Un-believ-able.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]Serious movie lovers should be flocking to theaters to see Breaking & Entering. Instead they're staying away in droves. I suppose I can't blame them. With the response from professional critics so tepid, everyone is probably presuming the film is mediocre. Perhaps a logical conclusion.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]But why are the critics, supposedly guardians of the culture, not standing up to draw attention to this captivating and unique film?! It's not perfect, but it's so jam-packed with ideas and feelings and beautiful performances, that for it to be ignored is just insane. [/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]Breaking & Entering is set in present-day London. An urban planner, played by Jude Law, is leading a project to improve a blighted area of the city. The new warehouse for his project is in this lower-class neighborhood, and thieves break into it twice in one week.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]One of the thieves is a teenage boy who not too long ago came to London with his mother as a refugee from the genocide in the Balkans. The boy is played by a spectacular newcomer named Rafi Gavron, and the mother is played by the dazzling and under-stated Juliette Binoche. She breaks your heart when she starts telling the story of how she escaped with her son, but without her husband.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]We learn much about the urban planner, including his long-time girlfriend (played by the still under-rated Robin Wright Penn) and her teenage daughter who has a touch of autism and can almost never sleep.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]We also come to know quite well the teenage thief and his family history. These two families begin to intersect in ways that surprise them all. Along the way, themes such as the following are explored:[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]Genocide, non-biological parenthood, class divisions, loneliness, relationships in disarray, the ferocity of a mother's love for her child, workaholism, infidelity, love, depression, poverty, and on and on and on.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]It's a rich, fascinating script that raises more questions than it answers. Like all top-notch films, it would reveal all sorts of new things each time you see it. A well that would never run dry.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]Even the title of the film gives me food for thought. Not just a word for burglary, it also could be a metaphor for breaking into the life of another person without a clear sense of whether you're there to take something or give something or win something.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]The boy-thief is filled with mixed impulses that he can barely sense. Part of why he breaks in appears to be the desire to become part of a middle-class society that shuts him out. Just before he takes a flat-screen monitor, he flips through an architecture book with a touch of awe.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]And I haven't even begun to talk about the small part winningly played by the rising star Vera Farmiga: an East European prostitute with a taste for philosophy. She also turns out to be a thief. But she retuns a stolen car with a few gifts in it.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]And what about that fox that keeps returning to the urban planner's garden? And what of that horrific sound it made? But I can't mention every fascinating thing in this film.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]Anyone who loves serious, complex, beautiful films should not miss Breaking & Entering.[/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=3]To the critics who gave this film a lousy or mediocre review: I don't understand what planet you're on.[/size][/font]

• Mark A

  
  Difficult to boil this one down to just a few lines. A complex story about a man torn between two very different women and their flawed children. A series of burglaries leads Will (Jude Law) to the Bosnian refuge, Amira (the ever-lovely Juliette Binoche) and her son, Miro (Rafi… More
  Difficult to boil this one down to just a few lines. A complex story about a man torn between two very different women and their flawed children. A series of burglaries leads Will (Jude Law) to the Bosnian refuge, Amira (the ever-lovely Juliette Binoche) and her son, Miro (Rafi Gavron), a small-time hood destined for a dust-up with the law. Meanwhile, at home, his live-in girlfriend, Liv (Robin Wright Penn), struggles to provide a stable home for her child who exhibits symptoms of OCD, or possibly autism. The acting is, on every level, superb. The story is compelling and the emotional journey of each of the characters is heart-wrenchingly engaging. A name to watch for in Poppy Rogers as Liv's daughter, Bea. This viewer was captivated from start to finish. Credit the acting, but the director deserves a mention as he was able to bring out, or to make room for, the talent of the cast and to mold the film into a coherent whole. Add Juliette Binoche to my list of favorite actors. She is superb in another east european role (see also The Incredible Lightness of Being). The acting tandem along with Ms Wright-Penn was like fire and ice. A terrific film.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Breaking and Entering", Will Francis(Jude Law) is an architect who is managing a massive urban renewal project in the Kings Cross section of North London while at the same time his personal life is in disarray. His ten-year relationship with his… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Breaking and Entering", Will Francis(Jude Law) is an architect who is managing a massive urban renewal project in the Kings Cross section of North London while at the same time his personal life is in disarray. His ten-year relationship with his girlfriend, Liv(Robin Wright Penn), is on the rocks which may be making the hyperactvity of her daughter, Bea(Poppy Rogers), worse.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]One night, there is a break-in at Will's office and the thieves steal every piece of high-tech equipment they can carry. One of them, a teenager, Miro(Rafi Gavron), also makes off with miniature figures from Will's demonstration model. Later, he is rewarded with Will's personal laptop computer and is fascinated by what he sees of Will's family on the computer, burning a disc of the personal images that he leaves at Will's office when it is robbed again.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Written and directed by Anthony Minghella, "Breaking and Entering" has the foundation of a good movie by having an urban architect become personally involved in the neighborhood he is working on but the movie is brought down hard by tedious melodrama, leaden pacing and dialogue so stilted even Robin Wright Penn cannot do anything with it. In fact, Minghella repeats the same pattern that led the promising "Cold Mountain" to ruin - cold, emotionless filmmaking with a couple of neat supporting performances to lighten things up.(In "Cold Mountain", it was Philip Seymour Hoffman and Renee Zellweger. Here, it is Vera Farmiga and Ray Winstone. Plus, Juliet Stevenson thankfully does have a cameo.) And the movie does end on a particularly bad note.[/font]

• Steven V

  
  Like most of <i>Anthony Minghella</i>'s movies, <b>Breaking and Entering</b> is visually very appealing. It has a very polished look but at the same time it portrays London in a very stark realistic way. The nightlife and daytime on the streets is well… More
  Like most of <i>Anthony Minghella</i>'s movies, <b>Breaking and Entering</b> is visually very appealing. It has a very polished look but at the same time it portrays London in a very stark realistic way. The nightlife and daytime on the streets is well captured. Production design and art direction are fantastic. <i>Benoît Delhomme</i>'s cinematography is wild. The rich score flows smoothly with the story. This movie can be viewed as a study of characters and their complex relationships. <i>Anthony Minghella</i> also provides a light insight into the lives of immigrants and he does a good job of suggesting, in a subtle way, how life for immigrants living in England is different from that of Britains. He also cleverly shows how the actions of one character leads to having an influence on the lives of another character. A lot of symbolism is used quite effectively, like the wandering fox referring to <i>Will</i>'s loneliness and search. <b>Breaking and Entering</b> is <i>Anthony Minghella</i>'s movie and it's quite a change from his previous movies which were set in different times. It is this man who skillfully puts it all together.

• Sol C

  
  I was overall disappointed with the film. Jude Law and Juliette Binoche are great in the film. So is Vera Farmiga, in her small supporting role. However, the film feels unfocused. The pacing is off. It feels like 2 films that are not connected in one film. It is sad that this was… More
  I was overall disappointed with the film. Jude Law and Juliette Binoche are great in the film. So is Vera Farmiga, in her small supporting role. However, the film feels unfocused. The pacing is off. It feels like 2 films that are not connected in one film. It is sad that this was Anthony Minghella's last film.

• John B

  
  Why did this film not get the attention that it deserved?? It certainly had the box office clout of both Jude Law and Juliette Binoche behind it. If you didn't catch it, give it a rent at the video store.

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