Before the Devil Knows You’re
Dead by Sidney Lumet (2007)
Two brothers with financial problems decide to plan a robbery at their parents’ jewelry store.
Quote.
“My life… that… that doesn’t add up maybe and I don’t know… it’s made up of mismatched pieces and I’m not the sum of my parts. The sum of my parts doesn’t make a whole… a whole me!” (Andy Hanson)
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
The original title of this movie is taken from an old Irish proverb and represents a true wish aimed at sinners, lost and corrupted souls.
For these kinds of people, reaching Heaven half an hour before the Devil knows of their death might indeed turn out to be the only possible salvation from eternal damnation.
However, it’s a salvation that’s very difficult to achieve because time passes quickly, and events pile up, one after the other, creating a tragic domino effect.
In Lumet’s last, magnificent film, there is no escape for any of the characters.
Each one of them is pinned down and forced to face their moral responsibilities.
There’s the older brother, Andy, a real estate executive desperately in need of money, a heroin addict, and the true mastermind of a robbery in which he doesn’t have the courage to participate.
His brother Hank, divorced and penniless, fragile and insecure, is forced to involve a potentially dangerous outsider in the criminal plan due to his incompetence.
And then there’s Gina, Andy’s dissatisfied wife who dreams of escaping to a foreign country while having an affair with his brother Hank.
But no less significant is the father, Charles, with his mask of pain and his thirst for vengeance that never subsides, pushing him further and further into the abyss.
Desperate characters, seduced by sin, who commit the most heinous acts with disarming ease, without the slightest thought of the consequences.
Reflections
No one is saved, in the end, in this family crime/drama constructed with continuous flashbacks that plunge us deeper into the intimacy of the characters and the dynamics of the story.
It’s the portrait of a micro family cosmos that becomes a metaphor for the condition of modern man, petty and mediocre when confronted with certain circumstances.
The actors are all brilliant and perfectly fit into their roles, particularly the towering Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays a character loaded with an almost unbearable cynicism.
Albert Finney is also notable in shifting from the role of inconsolable husband to that of a cold avenger who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is a devastating and intense film, the final legacy of a phenomenal director.
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