In Ancient Greek the expression 'The Ides of March' had several connotative meanings.
First of all it was the 15th day of March in the Roman calender, most likely referring to the day of the full moon.
Ides is derived from the word 'Idus' meaning 'half division', in the first place in relation to a month. Half of the month had passed at this point.
The Ides of March - as the name indicates - was also a day when one celebrated the deity Mars and military parades was often held during this feast.
In more recent times the term Ides of March is perhaps more known as the date when Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. due to a conspiracy among his senators with Marcus Junius Brutus as the foremost and most well known among them.
It's more in this latter sense that this film uses this terminology.
We are plunging into a presidential campaign where Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is the Junior Campaign Manager for Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) who is running for the presidency.
Their opponent is Ted Pullman (Michael Mantell). His Campaign Manager is Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) who one day calls Meyers in order to talk with him "in secret". Meyers tries to get in contact with his boss, Senior Campaign Manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) but as he doesn't answer his phone, he meets with Duffy in private, tempted by his interest in him.
The reason for this meeting is that Duffy wants Meyers to change camp. At first Meyers refuse as he thinks his governor is the best but bit by bit, Duffy convince him that this is the right thing to do, as Meyers (according to Duffy) is "different from the others".
Now things gradually gets out of hand for Meyers as he also is implicated in a love affair with Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood), an intern for Morris campaign and also the daughter of the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Meyers also find out that Morris has had a brief sexual encounter with Molly and this doesn't make the situation easier.
After a while he reveals to Zara that he has met with Duffy, making him 'persona non grata' in that camp, forcing him to contact Duffy and offer him his services. As politics is a dirty game - as we all know - Duffy doesn't want him anymore. As a matter of fact, Duffy had planned all this, in order to force Meyers to quit the campaign.
Brutus has betrayed his Ceasar.
Molly commits suicide, Meyers blackmails Morris to replace Zara with himself as the head of the campaign and the snow ball is rolling.
It's a well realized film in many ways, not least technically and the rapidness in the story telling - as with most big American productions - but on the same time, it doesn't convince either one of us, Aurore or me.
The dirty game of politics is unfolded but it's done in a rather polite way, and the reason to this must be that the big film companies in the USA doesn't want to confront politicians and the politics if it's not a question of persons where it's 'legitimate' to through the first stones, like Richard Nixon e.g.
The casting with Giamatti in the role as campaign leader doesn't work out to well we thought and not even Seymour Hoffman is truely convincing, otherwise being a favourite actor.
Clooney is doing a good work but not more and Gosling is perhaps the most interesting figure in all this, but on the same time not to convincing either.
Evan Rachel Wood is - as most women in American films - only there to attract the 'male gaze'. A habile work, rather entertaining and in some passages even somewhat thrilling and exciting but nothing more.
Parenthetically one can note that the director made a deliberate blink to the film 'Drive' by Nicolas Winding Refn when we got to see Ryan Gosling drive his car, almost only displaying his hands and neck like in Refn's film.
First of all it was the 15th day of March in the Roman calender, most likely referring to the day of the full moon.
Ides is derived from the word 'Idus' meaning 'half division', in the first place in relation to a month. Half of the month had passed at this point.
The Ides of March - as the name indicates - was also a day when one celebrated the deity Mars and military parades was often held during this feast.
In more recent times the term Ides of March is perhaps more known as the date when Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. due to a conspiracy among his senators with Marcus Junius Brutus as the foremost and most well known among them.
It's more in this latter sense that this film uses this terminology.
We are plunging into a presidential campaign where Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is the Junior Campaign Manager for Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) who is running for the presidency.
Their opponent is Ted Pullman (Michael Mantell). His Campaign Manager is Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) who one day calls Meyers in order to talk with him "in secret". Meyers tries to get in contact with his boss, Senior Campaign Manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) but as he doesn't answer his phone, he meets with Duffy in private, tempted by his interest in him.
The reason for this meeting is that Duffy wants Meyers to change camp. At first Meyers refuse as he thinks his governor is the best but bit by bit, Duffy convince him that this is the right thing to do, as Meyers (according to Duffy) is "different from the others".
Now things gradually gets out of hand for Meyers as he also is implicated in a love affair with Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood), an intern for Morris campaign and also the daughter of the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Meyers also find out that Morris has had a brief sexual encounter with Molly and this doesn't make the situation easier.
After a while he reveals to Zara that he has met with Duffy, making him 'persona non grata' in that camp, forcing him to contact Duffy and offer him his services. As politics is a dirty game - as we all know - Duffy doesn't want him anymore. As a matter of fact, Duffy had planned all this, in order to force Meyers to quit the campaign.
Brutus has betrayed his Ceasar.
Molly commits suicide, Meyers blackmails Morris to replace Zara with himself as the head of the campaign and the snow ball is rolling.
It's a well realized film in many ways, not least technically and the rapidness in the story telling - as with most big American productions - but on the same time, it doesn't convince either one of us, Aurore or me.
The dirty game of politics is unfolded but it's done in a rather polite way, and the reason to this must be that the big film companies in the USA doesn't want to confront politicians and the politics if it's not a question of persons where it's 'legitimate' to through the first stones, like Richard Nixon e.g.
The casting with Giamatti in the role as campaign leader doesn't work out to well we thought and not even Seymour Hoffman is truely convincing, otherwise being a favourite actor.
Clooney is doing a good work but not more and Gosling is perhaps the most interesting figure in all this, but on the same time not to convincing either.
Evan Rachel Wood is - as most women in American films - only there to attract the 'male gaze'. A habile work, rather entertaining and in some passages even somewhat thrilling and exciting but nothing more.
Parenthetically one can note that the director made a deliberate blink to the film 'Drive' by Nicolas Winding Refn when we got to see Ryan Gosling drive his car, almost only displaying his hands and neck like in Refn's film.
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