《Michael Clayton》　邁克爾·克萊頓　善惡只在一念之間

No.041　《Michael Clayton》　邁克爾·克萊頓　善惡只在一念之間

英文導讀

Michael Clayton is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Tony Gilroy, starring George Clooney as Michael Clayton, Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens, Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder and Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach.

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) handles all of the dirty work for a major New York law firm, arranging top-flight legal services and skirting through loopholes for ethically questionable clients. But when a fellow"fixer" decides to turn on the very firm they were hired to clean up for, Clayton finds himself at the center of a conspiratorial maelstrom. Once an ambitious D.A., Clayton is now a shell of his former dynamic self, thanks to a divorce, an unfortunate business venture, and astronomical debt. Though he longs to leave the cutthroat, ethically dubious world of corporate law behind, Clayton's poor financial situation and devotion to firm head Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) leave him little choice but to remain on the job and tough it out. Meanwhile, litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) finds her entire company's future hinging on the outcome of a multi-billion-dollar settlement overseen by Clayton's friend, star lawyer Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). When Edens snaps and decides to blow the whistle on the questionable case, sabotaging the defense, Clayton must decide between his loyalty and his conscience.

The film premiered August 31, 2007, at the Venice Film Festival and was shown at the American Films Festival of Deauville on September 2, 2007, and at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2007. It opened in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2007, and at the Dubai Film Festival in December 2007. The film opened in limited release in the United States on October 5, 2007, and opened in wide release in the U.S. on October 12, 2007. The film grossed USD$10.3 million on the opening week. It was re-released on January 25, 2008. The film has grossed $49 million domestically, $92.9 million worldwide.

The film received strong positive reviews from critics. As of November 2008, the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 90% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 184 reviews. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it an'A' saying that it was "better than good, it just about restores your faith". Roger Ebert gave it a 4-star review and Richard Roeper named it the 'best film of the year.' It was also Richard Schickel's top film of 2007, and he called it "a morally alert, persuasively realistic and increasingly suspenseful melodrama, impeccably acted and handsomely staged by Tony Gilroy".

The film won an Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton) at the 80th Academy Awards, and was nominated for six others, including Best Picture, Best Director (Tony Gilroy), Best Actor in a Leading Role (George Clooney), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tom Wilkinson), Best Original Screenplay (Tony Gilroy) and Best Original Score (James Newton Howard).

獲獎情況

2008年第80屆奧斯卡：最佳女配角獎，并榮獲最佳影片提名、最佳男主角提名、最佳導演提名、最佳男配角提名、最佳原創(chuàng)劇本提名、最佳原創(chuàng)配樂提名。

影片信息

導演：托尼·吉爾羅伊

編?。和心?middot;吉爾羅伊

主演：喬治·克魯尼、湯姆·威爾金森、蒂爾達·斯文頓、西德尼·波拉克

類型：劇情、懸疑、驚悚、犯罪

制片國家（地區(qū)）：美國

上映日期：2007-10-12（美國）

片長：119分鐘

又名：《敵對同謀》《全面反擊》《邁克爾·克雷頓》《英雄不問出處》

劇情簡介

曾經是一名優(yōu)秀刑事犯罪檢察官的邁克爾·克萊頓（喬治·克魯尼飾）在紐約法律界可謂是風光一時，但在經歷了一番不可解釋的遭遇之后，邁克爾離開了原職。還好，他又在一家大型的私人法律事務所里找到了位置，暫且可以憑借自己豐富的辦事經驗維持生計。雖然名片上的頭銜是律師，邁克爾·克萊頓需要做的卻遠非一個律師份內的工作。他是“肯納、巴赫和萊迪恩”——紐約曼哈頓最大的一家律師事務所的內部問題調解員，無論事務所的委托人處在一種多么令人不愉快的境地中，邁克爾都有辦法介入其中，然后將一切混亂和骯臟的紀錄全部清理干凈。

在新老板馬蒂·巴徹（西德尼·波拉克飾）的督促下，邁克爾開始了兢兢業(yè)業(yè)地為肯納、里丁以及老板巴徹等人洗脫種種骯臟法律事件的工作。

悲慘的境遇、忙碌辛苦的工作，并沒有讓命運女神眷顧邁克爾，還和他開了個小小的玩笑——他在外投資的公司最終破產倒閉，不但血本無歸，還背上了7.5萬美元的債務，妻子孩子離他而去，本就捉襟見肘的經濟狀況再度遭遇沉重打擊。

盡管邁克爾非常想擺脫目前的工作狀態(tài)，但是他的財政狀況以及他曾宣誓要為公司的老板效力的決心，讓他別無選擇，只得繼續(xù)在這樣的工作中煎熬。與此同時，邁克爾·克萊頓又因為公司的骯臟業(yè)務而卷入一場價值高達數百萬美元的集體訴訟案當中。而正當他利用自己的關系和豐富的辦事經驗“撥開迷霧”成功解決這場訴訟案的同時，老板巴徹手下的另一個辦事員亞瑟·艾登斯（湯姆·威爾金森飾）接手大客戶U/North農用化學品公司的委托。邁克爾在無意中發(fā)現了大量證據，讓他的良心第一次受到了震撼。最終，他決定用足以毀掉U/North公司的至關重要的文件揭露其丑行，因為他再也沒辦法忍受，自己努力保護的竟然是一個研制出了致癌物質的公司。

事務所的老板之一馬蒂·巴徹最終給邁克爾下達了命令，讓他著手幫助U/North公司清理一切混亂的源頭，并承諾事成之后，幫他負擔7.5萬美元的債務。那么邁克爾的選擇將會是什么呢？有時候，一個選擇會完全改變一個人的生活……

制作花絮

在影片中被炸掉的那款非常經典的奔馳轎車，第一次使用是在影片《穿普拉達的女王》中，那是一組有關梅麗爾·斯特里普和安妮·海瑟薇的場景里，它被切成了兩半……后來，它被焊接成一部完整的轎車，并重新噴漆，只為了在這部影片被炸掉。

此片由喬治·克魯尼與湯姆·威爾金森、蒂爾達·斯溫頓以及西德尼·波拉克這三位被稱為悲劇“催淚彈”的演員合作拍攝。

重點學習

But to remain on the job and tough it out

文中的tough it out主要用于美國口語中，是“勇敢地承受；堅持到底”的意思，比如：It's a period of actual crisis, even if we try to tough it out and act as if everything is under control.（這是一個真正的危機時刻，即使我們堅強與之面對，好似一切盡在控制之中。）

Her entire company's future hinging on the outcome of a multi-billiondollar settlement

文中的hinge on是英語中的一個固定搭配，某件事hinge on one thing or event depends entirely on it.也就是“完全取決于；取決于，關鍵在于，依…而定”的意思，比如：The plan hinges on a deal being struck with a new company.（該計劃完全取決于正在和一家新公司談的一筆交易。）

單詞時間

loophole[?lu:ph?ul] n. 漏洞；槍眼；換氣孔；射彈孔

conspiratorial[k?n?spir??t?:ri?l] adj. 陰謀的；陰謀者的

maelstrom[?meilstr?m] n. 大漩渦；極度混亂；不可抗的破壞力

astronomical[?æstr??n?mik?l] adj. 天文的，天文學的；極大的

cutthroat[?k?t?θr??t] n. 謀殺者；兇手

dubious[?dju:bj?s] adj. 可疑的；曖昧的；無把握的；半信半疑的

litigator[?litigeit?] n. 訴訟律師；訴訟人

sabotage[?sæb?tɑ:?] vt. 妨害；對…采取破壞行動

conscience[?k?n??ns] n. 道德心，良心

suspenseful[s??spεnsf?l] adj. 懸疑的；令人緊張的；焦急不安的

melodrama[?mel??drɑ:m?] n. 情節(jié)??；音樂??；聳人聽聞的事件，鬧劇

handsomely[?hæns?mli] adv. 漂亮地；慷慨地；相當大方地