The Clearing (film)

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The Clearing
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Mediastream Dritte Film GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG
Thousand Words
Wildwood Enterprises
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates
  • July 2, 2004 (2004-07-02) (United States)
  • December 23, 2004 (2004-12-23) (Germany)
Running time
95 minutes
CountriesGermany
United States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$12.5 million[1]

The Clearing is a 2004 American thriller drama film and the directorial debut of film producer Pieter Jan Brugge. The film is loosely based on the real life kidnapping of Gerrit Jan Heijn that took place in the Netherlands in 1987. The screenplay was written by Justin Haythe.

Plot

Wayne Hayes (

FBI
to try to secure her husband's release. During the investigation, Eileen learns that Wayne has continued an extramarital affair that he promised to end months previously.

Eileen is eventually instructed to deliver the ransom to the kidnapper, but Arnold takes the money without returning her husband; Arnold murdered Wayne the day of the kidnapping. Eileen's ordeal takes place over the course of a week, but the film shows Wayne's kidnapping as if it were happening at the same time.

Authorities eventually catch Arnold when he starts spending the ransom money in the neighborhood where he lives. At a local grocery store, he uses a $100 bill for a purchase. The store manager calls to verify the serial number on the $100 bill is on a watch list the FBI distributed to local businesses. During questioning, police ask Arnold if he wanted to be caught, and he admits that the kidnapping was to get money for his depressed wife—but it took him all day to bring himself to kill Wayne and he could not live with the guilt of his crime. In the end, Eileen receives a loving note written by Wayne before his death.

Cast

Locations

The film was shot in and around

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[citation needed][2]

Reception

The film has received mixed reviews. On

weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4]

According to

Rolling Stone wrote, "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."[6]

Boston Globe, felt that the film had a "lack of emotion" and "could have been more than it is".[7] M. Torreiro, in the Spanish newspaper El País, described the film a "tense thriller, cramped and made of downtime and sensations on the limit, a strange film."[8]

References

  1. ^ "The Clearing (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  2. ^ "Pittsburgh Filmography - Pittsburgh Film Office".
  3. ^ The Clearing, Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved 2022-03-20
  4. ^ The Clearing Reviews, Metacritic, retrieved 2022-03-20
  5. ^ Ebert, Roger (2 July 2004). "The Clearing Movie Review & Film Summary (2004); Roger Ebert". Suntimes. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  6. ^ Peter Travers (2 July 2004). "The Clearing; Movie Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Lack of emotion clutters 'Clearing'". The Boston Globe. 2 July 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  8. ^ "La sombra de un secuestro (2004)". Filmaffinity.com. Retrieved 9 October 2017.

External links

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