Jake (Clooney) is a journalist, back in 1945 Berlin to cover the post-war Potsdam conference, and he also hopes to meet up with Lena (Blanchett), the local woman he left behind. So imagine his surprise when he discovers that she's now linked to his driver (Maguire), whose all-American nice-guy manner masks something much darker. Soon Jake is investigating a murder, digging deeper into corruption among Americans, Germans and Russians, uncovering a big conspiracy along the way. But who's behind it all?

Soderbergh assembles everything like a vintage studio movie--striking monochrome photography, sharp editing, bold direction, severe lighting, emotive narration, even the surging score. The template is clearly Casablanca, but without the constraints of the Hayes Code. In this chaotic locale, "nobody's hands are clean"; everyone is up to something nefarious. Colourful characters swirl through the story--Curran's helpful barman, Bridges' evasive commander, Orser's slippery lawyer, Issyanov's shifty Russian, and so on.

The object of everyone's obsession is Blanchett's striking femme fatale, a cross between Ingrid Bergman and Marlene Dietrich who internalises the light and shadows and has so many secrets that, frankly, it's not easy to keep up. Opposite Blanchett's fierce steeliness and Maquire's layered mystery, Clooney's smart-mouthed but plodding investigator seems almost dull. Which is exactly as he should seem, perhaps, but it makes the film feel more simplistic as the story gets increasingly twisted and tangled.

All is revealed in the end, and the film remains clever, insinuating and playful from start to finish. As it progresses, the characters emerge in sharp focus, vivid and full of life--well, a 1940s Hollywood movie version of life. Even so, the ultimate effect is hollow, like a B-movie that's great fun but doesn't leave us with anything to chew on. This is what makes it very different from, say, Todd Haynes' similar approach on the 1950s-style Far From Heaven. That was a film that got under the skin. This is just solid entertainment.

themes, language, violence, sexuality

29.Nov.06