The Clearing poster & wallpaper

Alessandro Nivola, Helen Mirren, Matt Craven

Wayne and Eileen Hayes live the American Dream. Together they've raised two children and struggled to build a successful business from the ground up. But there have been sacrifices along the way. When...( read more  read more... ) Wayne is kidnapped by an ordinary man, Arnold Mack, and held for ransom in a remote forest, the couple's world is turned inside out. Eileen finds her home full of FBI Agents, their life under scrutiny. While Wayne is engaged in the negotiation of his lifetime, Eileen works frantically with the FBI to secure his release. The terrifying ordeal causes Wayne and Eileen to reassess their marriage and come to a deeper sense of their commitment to each other. With each passing hour, the need and desire for Wayne to return home safely becomes ever more urgent.

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36% liked it

5,944 ratings

Critics

44% liked it

126 critics

R, 1 hr. 31 min.

Directed by: Pieter Jan Brugge

Release Date: July 2, 2004

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DVD Release Date: November 9, 2004

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Stats: 274 reviews

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Willem Dafoe as Arnold Mack in The Clearing (2004) The Clearing (2004) The Clearing The Clearing
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Flixster Reviews (274)

  • wellmeetagain
    April 27, 2008
    wellmeetagain
    Thought this would be better, especially considering the talented cast. Just a run of the mill kidnapping tale. Thumbs down!
  • allan913
    December 2, 2007
    allan913
    A smart, well-crafted and sensational edge of your seat thriller. Taunt, compelling and rich in characer. Thrilling with an emotional punch. Intelligent thrillers like this rarely come around. It's nail-biting, exciting, brilliant remarkable. Gripping, riveting, shocking and asto...( read more)nishing. A suspenseful film that will keep you guessing right till the end. Robert Redford gives a powerful performance. Willem Dafoe is teriffic. Helen Mirren is outstanding.
  • FangsFirst
    October 4, 2007
    FangsFirst
    I bought this movie despite some extraordinarily mixed reviews, especially considering the cast we're dealing with. At least, I seem to recall reviews being mixed, I could be wrong.

    The first thing that struck me was how cold, spartan and restrained the film is. Most of the soun...( read more)ds we hear, outside occasional ambient ones, are within the frame only. No one says anything from offscreen except, at most, in simple conversation. Lines are short and to the point, yet still feel natural. It's almost sterile, but, no, it isn't Kubrick, it's more a feeling of...inevitability? Everything seems to run just how it should, in spite of the kind of people we're dealing with, in spite of the unusual circumstances, in spite of the many, many possibilities that could factor into such a situation. Yet, still, there's definitely life in it. Despite the basic subject matter, even throughout there's a sense of love and hope, even as things are reeled off that should destroy or at least decrease that feeling. There is no major excitement here; no great big chases or shootouts or big, burly FBI agents (Matt Craven plays the lead agent, and is a quiet, average sort of guy). No big heroes or monstrous villains.

    While I am in some ways reluctant to reveal the nature of the plot, the great majority of the movie IS centered on it, so it's difficult to avoid. Wayne Hays (Robert Redford) is a successful businessman married to Eileen Hays (Helen Mirren) who leaves for work one morning, promising his wife to be home at six, and he doesn't show. Eileen calls him angrily hoping he's on the way, apologizes to their guests for his absence and then sits alone waiting for him to return. When the hours stretch too far for her, she calls the police and reports him missing. They soon find his car, no signs of struggle or break-in, with the paper he stopped to get sitting in the back with his bag.

    Now we are back to that morning, and we see what Wayne saw--a man approaches his car and introduces himself as Arnold Mack (Willem DaFoe), saying he knew Wayne years ago. He has a manilla envelope and says he was told to show the contents to Wayne. Inside are pictures of Eileen at their pool, which, of course, is not something Wayne is happy to see. Arnold uses this as leverage to kidnap Wayne, and now we know for certain where it is he went that morning. The rest of the movie follows Arnold leading Wayne to a cabin in the woods where his employers are waiting to ransom him, and the parallel of Eileen and the two grown children who make up Wayne's family as they try to meet the demands and process that Arnold requires. We see repeatedly signs that this story is further ahead, as multiple days are spoken of and gone through, while Arnold and wayne are still making their way through the woods that first day. They discuss their pasts on a low level, but nothing terribly revealing about Wayne comes out--or even all that revealing about Arnold.

    Even in Eileen's story, while we learn that Wayne had an affair with an employee which has ended--and then that it continued in some fashion afterward, we still don't learn an awful lot about the characters. Yet, these three are so stellar at their craft, we feel we know and care about all three--yes, three--of them very honestly. Where the story goes from here, as I say, feels inevitable, yet is not necessarily what you do or do not expect. It simply is, by virtue of this cold, quiet, minimalistic approach to the plot, writing and filming. It moves fairly quickly, despite the seemingly slow pacing. It's an interesting balance, as things continue to happen yet it seems to be moving in real time at the same time. Perhaps it's a balance between the two timelines, but it feels more like it was just exquisitely crafted; it feels as if someone crossed a movie like In the Bedroom with Ransom, maintained the essential feel of In the Bedroom, as a serious, well-acted, quiet drama, but kept the sort of hopeful, "it's just a movie, even though it feels pretty real," sort of tone that most engaging big-budget thrillers hold. We don't ever feel patronized as viewers, like they're trying to perfectly explain the process of kidnapping and negotiating to us, or like the characters are bigger-than-life caricatures instead of actual characters, yet we don't get that oppressive feeling that a realistic drama tends to have. It was very interesting to see and feel this, and I was quiet pleased--even if I am biased by my appreciation of Willem DaFoe and Robert Redford--and now Helen Mirren, who I don't belive I had seen an awful lot of before--though I do have Gosford Park to look forward to still.
  • amodman
    November 19, 2006
    amodman
    I'm still not entirely sure why I watched this.
  • bbcfloridabound
    February 17, 2008
    bbcfloridabound
    How did I miss this one when it came out, Wow kept me on the edge of my seat. Robert Redford played excellent part. Why does Willem Dafor always have to be the crazy one. Great addition to my collection.
  • Yelverton
    November 13, 2009
    Yelverton
    Good film with a bad ending.
  • trisarahtops22
    November 10, 2009
    trisarahtops22
    There was really no point to this movie. There was no climax, no suspence, so a-ha moment. I was completely and totally disappointed with this.
  • mandyje
    October 26, 2009
    mandyje
    Alright, first off, this is not a thriller. I would consider this movie a drama all the way. Sure, there is slight suspense, but the story line seems to be more about a married couple and their "love" for one another. The suspense and events are just what brings the love together...( read more).
    Interesting enough for a one time viewing, but I would say this is more because of a great cast. And seriously, Does Robert Redford age?
  • dukeakasmudge
    October 22, 2009
    dukeakasmudge
    Boring piece of garbage.Couldnt wait for it to end
  • clarkey0707
    September 27, 2009
    clarkey0707
    Disappointing considering the cast.

View All The Clearing Reviews

Critic Reviews

August 1, 2004
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

A thriller stripped of thrills -- or, even worse, a thriller that thinks of itself as somehow rising above the vulgar pleasures of excitement. full review

July 3, 2004
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

A precise, chilly brand of filmmaking that's hard to warm up to. full review

July 2, 2004
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

It's still worth a look, for the pleasures of Mirren's peerlessly dry performance. full review

July 2, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

What eventually happens will emerge from the personalities of the characters, not from the requirements of Hollywood endings. Sensing that, we grow absorbed in the story, knowing that what happens alo... full review

July 2, 2004
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Discreetly filmed, slowly paced, looking for deeper motivation in every glance and comment, The Clearing never comes up with the emotional gold to justify the dig. full review

July 1, 2004
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Classy but ultimately unsatisfying. full review

June 17, 2004
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The pleasures of this endeavor, directed with a keen eye for detail by Pieter Jan Brugge, come from what the actors bring to the material. full review

View more The Clearing reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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The Clearing Trivia

  • What is one of the habits that Sarah Jessica Parker has in The Family Stone that annoy the family so much?  Answer »
  • Who kidnapped Robert Redford in "The Clearing"?  Answer »
  • In the Family Stone what is Merideths annoying habit?  Answer »
  • In what movie does a small boy get abducted by natives in Brazil, whose father is a contractor/architect clearing the Rainforest?  Answer »
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