A landscape architect finds his life upended by the thief burgling his London office.
In short: In Anthony Minghella’s final feature film, a successful architect’s detached existence in London is shattered by a series of office break-ins. As he tracks the young acrobat responsible, he stumbles into a complex web of refugee life and emotional entanglement, forcing him to confront the fragility of his own domestic reality.
Released in 2007, Breaking and Entering serves as the final feature film directed by Anthony Minghella before his death in 2008. The narrative centers on Will Francis, a landscape architect whose routine-based life with his girlfriend Liv and her autistic daughter, Bea, is fraying under the pressure of Bea’s behavioral challenges and Will’s sense of exclusion. Seeking refuge from his strained home life, Will begins conducting nightly stakeouts at his Kings Cross office after it is repeatedly targeted by a group of thieves.
The burglaries are executed by Miro, a 15-year-old refugee from Bosnia and Herzegovina who uses his skills as a traceur to bypass security. When Will tracks Miro to his home, he encounters the boy’s mother, Amira, a seamstress whose husband was killed during the war. Instead of involving the police, Will initiates a clandestine relationship with Amira under the pretense of needing tailoring services, a decision that pulls him into a moral dilemma as law enforcement closes in on the burglars.
The film, which features a score by Gabriel Yared and Underworld, utilizes various London locations, including Rowley Way and the Old Ford Lock, to ground its exploration of class and social displacement. Despite its ambitious premise, the film received mixed critical reception. Reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 34% rating, with critics noting that the drama often felt contrived, suggesting the characters were manipulated to serve the film's social commentary rather than acting with inherent logic. Metacritic awarded it a score of 56 out of 100, reflecting the polarized response to Minghella’s final work.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Breaking and Entering (film)
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