L'affaire Thomas Crown

The Thomas Crowne Affair is a joy. It's a smooth, smart crime thriller and romance. Norman Jewison does a great job by having Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway underplaying and by having a script that's very light on dialogue. Those two choices allow the focus to be on close-ups, facial movements, and silence, which communicate beautifully the mystery, the enigma, at the heart of Thomas Crowne and also allow Faye Dunaway to evolve her character credibly, to fall in love, all the while doing her job and being increasingly, and deeply, conflicted. Dunaway and McQueen are a great couple. Jewison also did a great job of using, and not over-using, the split screen technique which was new and trendy at the time. That allowed him to communicate lots of the story in very short, silent bursts, and keep a cool 60s vibe at the same time. And the famous music was just right. Great stuff.