The Ghost Writer

Souvenirs from an important story I saw eight years ago. Appealing to me again now.

Do you know how we call a "ghostwriter" in French...?
A "Nègre". A Negro... A.k.a. a Slave.
Shocking?
Or maybe revealing...

The Ghost Writer (2010) - Official Trailer 

With Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan 

The Ghost Writer (2010) 

Official Trailer A ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.

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The Ghost Writer (released as The Ghost in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is a 2010 Franco-German-British political thriller film directed by Roman Polanski. 

The film is an adaptation of a Robert Harris novel, The Ghost, with the screenplay written by Polanski and Harris. 

It stars Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall and Olivia Williams.

The film was a critical and commercial success and won numerous cinematic awards including Best Director for Polanski at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival and also at the 23rd European Film Awards in 2010.

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Review

by 

Peter Bradshaw - for The Guardian

The Ghost Writer

4/5stars

    

Roman Polanski's deft take on Robert Harris's political thriller is the director's most purely enjoyable film for years

Roman Polanski's latest movie happens to be about a public figure, once hugely admired, now disgraced, fearing extradition and prosecution and confined to virtual house arrest in a vacation spot for rich people.

Did the director, when he shot this film, get a chill presentiment of how personal it was all going to look? Maybe. But it didn't stop him making a gripping conspiracy thriller and scabrous political satire, a Manchurian Candidate for the 2010s, as addictive and outrageous as the Robert Harris bestseller on which it's based. Polanski keeps the narrative engine ticking over with a downbeat but compelling throb. This is his most purely enjoyable picture for years, a Hitchcockian nightmare with a persistent, stomach-turning sense of disquiet, brought off with confidence and dash.

More here: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/12/roman-polanski-ghost-writer

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