Skip to content
  • News & Updates
  • Sophia
  • Career
  • Press Archive
  • Gallery
  • Media
  • Site + Online

The Hollywood Reporter

Hallam Foe

19 February 2007   |   Written by Kirk Honeycutt

Bottom Line: Most entertaining comic drama with a great turn by Jamie Bell.

BERLIN — Not a great title, “Hallam Foe,” but it’s a juicy character for the talented and increasingly ubiquitous Jamie Bell to run with. It’s a showy part, but the movie ably supports it with splendid use of Edinburgh, Scotland’s cityscapes, a basket full of startling surprises in the screenplay and characters without a fleck of sentimentality. With muscular marketing, the highly entertaining movie, written (with Ed Whitmore) and directed by David Mackenzie, could move beyond the art house niche in Europe and North America.

Rock bottom, what is going on beneath the crowded and quite funny surface of this film, is a lad going through hell following the sudden death of his mother. Hallam (Bell) has one question about her drowning in the lake next to the family’s country home: Was it an accident? If not, he has a suspect: Verity (Claire Forlani), his dad’s seductive secretary, who married Julius Foe (Ciaran Hinds) much too quickly following his mother’s death.

His grief and anger express themselves in odd ways. Retreating to an elaborate childhood tree house, Hallam takes to spying on his dad and new wife through binoculars. Then one day, a fed-up Verity climbs into his tree house and seduces him! That’s some stepmother.

Hallam understandably flees, winding up penniless on the streets of Edinburgh. He quickly finds a place to roost, where he continues his spying proclivities. One woman who catches his attention bears a shocking resemblance to his late mother. He follows Kate (a winsome Sophia Myles) to a deluxe hotel where she is the personnel director. After a brief though strange encounter, she hires him as a kitchen worker.

He continues to follow and watch Kate only to make the awful discovery that she is having an affair with the hotel manager, Alasdair (Jamie Sives), a married man. Alasdair becomes aware of Hallam’s activities, fires him, but then is forced to rehire him when Hallam pulls off an audacious, cheeky stunt.

One night, Hallam goes drinking with his mother’s look-alike and winds up in her bed. Strange things happen in this movie. Indeed, there are echoes of Alfred Hitchcock, especially the voyeurism of “Rear Window,” the sexual obsession with a look-alike in “Vertigo” and even the mysterious drowning death in “Rebecca.”

But the movie never becomes a thriller as Mackenzie is more interested in his characters and the emotions that run when a son loses his mother early. You don’t have to buy this character completely to enjoy the movie.

Hallam Foe is a rather fictional conceit, no matter how you look at him. As he scampers along the rooftops and darts through open windows and passageways, he is the Phantom of the Opera with an obsession with a beautiful young woman and Spider-Man with his boyish obsession with solving crime.

This is the fun of the film. It’s serious, but then again it’s not. The story is rooted in the grim emotion of paralyzing grief, yet the story is wildly entertaining and in its sex scenes even a bit kinky. Kate’s signature line is: “I like creepy men.” So does the filmmaker.

Cinematographer Giles Nuttgens turns staid Edinburgh into a glittery, stately presence, especially in night shots, while Tom Sayer’s production design creates a world of undergrounds and rooftops. Colin Monie’s editing keeps things at a nimble pace, which is aided by an astute use of pop songs for the musical score.

Powered by MND Press Library
Share

Welcome Message

Welcome to Simply Sophia Myles, the official fansite and your best source for the incredibly beautiful and talented actress Sophia Myles. 


Here you will find the most comprehensive information on Sophia's life and her career, an extensive photo gallery, multimedia features and a whole lot more!

Current Projects

  • Decrypted
    Decrypted (2020)
    Beth Barnes
    Releases December 1, 2020
    An outrageous and provocative dark comedy about a mismatched NSA team who kidnap the creator of Bitcoin - Satoshi Nakamoto - and attempt to torture him for the information they need to destroy crypto-currencies.
    Info
    News
    Photos
    IMDb
    Official
  • A Discovery of Witches
    A Discovery of Witches (2018-)
    Rebecca Bishop
    Season 2 airing January 2021
    Diana Bishop, historian and witch, accesses Ashmole 782 and knows she must solve its mysteries. She is offered help by the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, but he's a vampire and witches should never trust vampires.
    Info
    News
    Photos
    Videos
    IMDb
    Official
  • Disarm
    Disarm (2020)
    Megan Granger
    Filming
    A small town girl who moves to the city in an attempt to get away from the tragic loss of her parents. With no family or friends around her, the city breaks her spirit and leaves her feeling overwhelmed, outcast and lonely. She longs for companionship and desperately seeks solace from Sean who offers her a way out.
    Info
    News
    Photos
    IMDb
    Official
  • Listen
    Listen (2020)
    Ann Payne
    Screening at Film Festivals
    In the outskirts of London, Portuguese couple and parents of three, Bela and Jota, struggle to make ends meet. When a misunderstanding arises at school with their deaf daughter, the British social services grow concerned for the safety of their children. LISTEN portrays the tireless battle of these immigrant parents against the law to keep their family together.
    Info
    News
    Photos
    IMDb
    Official

Twitter Feed

Simply Sophia MylesFollow

Simply Sophia Myles
Retweet on TwitterSimply Sophia Myles Retweeted
SophiaMylesSophia Myles@SophiaMyles·
10 Apr

I’ll be helping tell this juicy story... https://twitter.com/SophiaMyles/status/1366085437656334336

Sophia Myles@SophiaMyles

A Very English Scandal spin-off will focus on ‘first woman to be slut shamed' via @irish_news http://www.irishnews.com/magazine/entertainment/2019/01/31/news/a-very-english-scandal-spin-off-will-focus-on-first-woman-to-be-slut-shamed--1540457/?param=ds441rif44T

Reply on Twitter 1380877949298216962Retweet on Twitter 138087794929821696217Like on Twitter 1380877949298216962170Twitter 1380877949298216962
Retweet on TwitterSimply Sophia Myles Retweeted
DISARMshortfilmDISARM@DISARMshortfilm·
9 Apr

More Festivals selecting our little short.

#BlessedAndGrateful

Reply on Twitter 1380573765638230018Retweet on Twitter 13805737656382300187Like on Twitter 138057376563823001816Twitter 1380573765638230018
Load More...
© 2020 Simply Sophia Myles • Theme by MonicaNDesign • Header by Gratrix Designs • Powered by WordPress
'Simply Sophia Myles’ is an official fansite which means it is endorsed by Sophia Myles but it is NOT her official site. It has been set up by fans, for fans. While we strive to verify it, information taken from public media outlets may not always be completely accurate. All images contained are copyright of their original owners. No infringement ever intended. This site’s intent is to provide fans with content related to Sophia Myles and is operating within the terms of ‘fair use’ to the best of its knowledge. If the owner of the copyrighted material would like them removed, please contact us with details.