A wintry thriller

Roman Polanski8217;s new film may be the closest Tony Blair will ever get to a Hollywood makeover. The hero of 8220;The Ghost Writer8221;,which opens in America this month and in Britain as 8220;The Ghost8221; in April,is Adam Lang Pierce Brosnan,a retired British prime minister who is hiding out on an island that looks an awful lot like Martha8217;s Vineyard. He is meant to be keeping busy writing his memoirs in an imposing glass-and-steel house lent to him by his American publisher. The village that fills up during the tourist season is deserted,and bleak skies alternate with drizzling rain. All we see of America is Lang8217;s compound and its lurking security guards. Mr Polanski has made it look like a prison.

A wintry coda to Mr Polanski8217;s classic,8221;Chinatown8221;,8221;The Ghost Writer8221; is adapted from 8220;The Ghost8221; by Robert Harris,a British novelist,thriller-writer,newspaper columnist and friend of the Blairs. Mr Harris8217;s fictitious PM,a crusader in the war on terror,is thought to have been involved in rendition and torture of suspected terrorists. He may have to stay in America to escape prosecution. When Lang8217;s first Boswell turns up dead on the beach,the replacement,a writer of celebrity autobiographies Ewan McGregor,is given a month to turn his predecessor8217;s first draft into a good read by persuading the wily politician to tell him the truth about himself,preferably without getting the new ghost killed as well.

Against his better judgment,Mr McGregor8217;s nameless character is soon threading his way through a maze of baffling clues and people with plenty to hide,including two resident femmes fatales the PM8217;s stormy wife Olivia Williams and his coolly sexy assistant Kim Cattrall. The real Mr Blair has been in the news lately,as has Mr Polanski,and his PM-in-exile is shaded with sympathy. 8220;The Ghost Writer8221; is more political than many political thrillers. The televised glimpses of waterboarding will provoke gasps among the audience. But those who have no interest in the torture of hapless foreigners can forget international affairs and simply revel in the director8217;s dark enchantments. Mr Polanski has made a perfect film of Mr Harris8217;s intricate page-turner one that will outlast his own present difficulties,and Mr Blair8217;s as well.

The Economist Newspaper Limited 2010