Yet, despite sharing many scenes, veteran director Sydney Pollack never pairs Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman in the same full length shot. That's because the fun website www.celebheights.com is probably right to claim Miss Kidman is 5ft 10' ins, and Mr Penn just 5ft 8' ins (despite his often being listed elsewhere at 5ft 10ins). Having a star looking up to his leading lady wouldn't do in a movie like this. So, with the exception of a cleverly-framed shot where Penn is in the foreground, they are nearly always to be found sitting down! Not that this a touchy-feely romance. Despite the 12A certificate, it's an often violent but well made 128-minute thriller about an assassination attempt on an African leader. He's about to visit the United Nations in New York, where African-raised Silvia Broome (Kidman) is an interpreter with a convincing accent. An Oscar-winning director for Out of Africa, Pollack keeps us guessing as to just whose side Silvia is on while widower Robin Keller (Penn) gets on with life as a boggy-eyed secret service agent. Blending films like The Manchurian Candidate and The Day of the Jackal with modern terrorist thrillers like The Siege results in a movie that rides high on the concept of 'the truth needs no translation'. But, while it can be hard to work out what's going on, it's easy to feel The Interpreter treads a fine line between being too contrived and signalling too many clues. Considering the action is set within the space of a week, Penn's hair colour changes so often, it's as if he was shooting another movie concurrently. Executively produced by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient), The Interpreter is fine adult entertainment which maintains a fair degree of tension. Its real significance is the fact that it's the first heavyweight thriller to have been backed by Britain's own Working Title, the company behind so many of Hugh Grant's lighter hits. What matters for Tim Bevan and friends is that with good cinematography by Iranian-born Darius Khondji (Seven/ Panic Room), and a taut score from James Newton Howard (Collateral/ Batman Begins), The Interpreter speaks many of the right kind of crowdpleasing, international languages. Website: www.interpretermovie.com Rating: 4 stars | 
