Arbitrage - DVD

Content: The successful hedge fund manager Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is facing the most important deal of his life, but a large bank wants to buy his company. This would secure not only Robert's retirement, but also that of his children. Everything looks like a great success and a happy marriage with his dedicated wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon). But under the surface things look very different: not only is Robert cheating on his wife with the French art dealer Julie (Laetitia Casta). He has also had the books of his ailing company manipulated in order to pull off the lucrative deal with the bank and thus get his sheep in the dry. At first this plan seems to work. But a tragic accident brings Robert's lie framework mighty shaky and calls the persistent Detective Bryer (Tim Roth) on the plan. And he would like nothing better than to put a powerful man like Robert Miller behind bars...

Arbitrage begins as a tense economic thriller in the best Wall Street style. The story is riveting and Richard Gere makes it clear after only a few moments what a superb performance he delivers here as a ruthless executive. Sometimes extremely sleazy, manipulative and coldly calculating, then again charming and caring, so multilayered Gere draws this interesting character. It is just tremendously exciting to watch him as Robert tries with all his might to maintain his framework of lies and to keep his composure even in the face of an imminent prison sentence.

The other actors, whether Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth or the currently busy Brit Marling (The East, The Company you keep), remain a bit pale, but all deliver solid performances. Unfortunately, the script by Nicholas Jarecki, who makes his feature film debut as a director, isn't strong enough for all actors to show their full talent. Sure, the story is intriguing, and at moments, very clever and intelligently written. But the more the story progresses, the more the focus shifts from Robert's economic smear theatre to his family life. There, the whole thing takes on a little too ordinary traits and loses tremendously in tension and persuasiveness.

However, even in these weak moments, Arbitrage is still better than many a work that has made it to theaters with high numbers of copies. It's a shame that such a well-acted and solidly crafted film only makes it to home theaters because the actors are no longer particularly strong in traction and the tension is not created by fast-paced action, but by dialogue and dramaturgy. But if you're looking for exactly that kind of thing and want to enjoy a first-rate Richard Gere, you simply can't get past this white-collar crime drama. Recommended!

Image + Sound: The DVD's image is very clean and the undercooked color scheme is a great match for the story's atmosphere. While the overall sharpness is at a decent level, some weaknesses in detail are noticeable here and there due to slightly excessive contrast. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix remains largely unspectacular. Only in the car accident comes a little dynamics in the otherwise by the centrally mixed dialogue determined events. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the DVD has in addition to the trailer some cut scenes (about 12 min), two interviews (about 13 min) and two promo featurettes (about 17 min) to offer. That is altogether okay, but for the theme of the story one would have wished nevertheless perhaps somewhat more, than the nevertheless somewhat superficial Promo material offered here.

Conclusion: Arbitrage is an exciting drama, which can convince particularly in the first half with a wonderfully smarmy manipulative Richard Gere and a really good story. Towards the end, the whole thing falls off a bit, but still remains dramaturgically as well as acting good enough to be warmly recommended to friends of American thriller dramas. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp