Tagline: Temptation can lead anywhere.
Keira as: Joanna Reed
Genre: Drama, Romance
Duration: 92 minutes
Written by: Massy Tadjedin
Directed by: Massy Tadjedin
Other cast: Eva Mendes, Guillaume Canet, Griffin Dunne, Sam Worthington
Release date: May 6, 2011 (limited)
Production budget: –
Total worldwide gross: $7.7m
Filming locations: New York City, New York, USA

New York City is a stunning backdrop for this story of a successful, gorgeous, and outwardly perfect married couple confronting the turbulence of temptation. Joanna (Academy Award® nominee Keira Knightley) and Michael Reed (Sam Worthington) are seven years into a loyal and healthy marriage, both balancing challenging but rewarding careers, and enjoying what the city has to offer. One night when the Reeds attend a company party, Joanna witnesses an exchange of glances between her husband and a sexy colleague, Laura (the smart and seductive Eva Mendes), whom Michael never mentioned before. Suspicion mounts when Michael heads out on a business trip with the attractive co-worker in tow. As Joanna begins to doubt Michael’s intentions, she finds herself facing her own temptation when her ex-lover Alex (the handsome Guillaume Canet) resurfaces.

Writer/director Massy Tadjedin gently exposes the tangled web of emotions surrounding doubt and jealousy that subtly tug at the seams of a modern relationship in this finely woven tale. Knightley and Worthington bring maturity and confidence to this city couple in crisis, and temper both with just the right amount of vulnerability.

Production Info

Character Quotes

Quoting: Keira Knightley

on her attraction to the role: I thought it was incredibly truthful. In film as a medium, you’re often given a baddie and a goodie and told what to think about them; it’s usually a very definite point of view. I loved that it demands a dialogue with the audience. I’d also never been asked to do anything that was sort of naturalistic and modern, so I wanted to try that.

on the ambiguous ending: We did lots of different versions of that, literally from “I fucked somebody else” or “I nearly fucked somebody else” or “I’m leaving you” or “Let’s go have lunch” or “I’m going to get in the shower” or “I love you.” I don’t know which take she chose. When we started the film we said, “They absolutely stay [married]; they scare themselves, they scare each other; it’s much stronger afterwards.” And then we’re making it and were like, “No, she leaves him and goes to France with Alex.” Then we said, “She leaves but doesn’t end up with either of them, because she knows it was a moment and never going to work,” and then we went back to, “They stay together.” I think it’s true to life, how many times you have changed your mind in that 36-hour period.

Quoting: Cast and Crew

Director Massy Tadjedin: Keira was great because she sort of anchored the cast once we got her to come on board. She didn’t want to work originally for a year-and-a-half when I sent the script to her so I really had to persuade her — I had to keep talking with her until she just relented and did the film.

Critical Response

Rodrigo Perez, IndieWire:

Real chemistry does actually exist between Knightley and Canet (the two stronger actors in the picture) and when they accidentally and fatefully bump into each other and and meet-up later, the film wakes up to life — Canet seemingly raising Knightley’s game to a higher level as the picture starts to engage and their laughter, furtive glances and flirtatious moments begin to feel palpable, genuine and borderline intoxicating.

Rex Reed, Observer:

Beautifully shot and reeking with style, Last Night is as slow as sorghum; nothing ever really happens. Everyone suffers and agonizes, but they wear wonderful clothes while doing it. Ms. Knightly does some of her most luminous work here, but neither of the leads are developed enough to care about.

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe:

The entire movie is a gift to Knightley. The writer she plays, Joanna, catches her husband, Michael, and the sexy co-worker Mendes plays at a party sharing a moment on the terrace. A federal case is made. He denies it and works hard to reel her off the couch. But Tadjedin’s writing gives us a woman capable of being convinced by herself alone. At some point during the argument, Joanna tells him, “I’d spare you.’’ It’s quite a line, both for what it implies about her conjugal character and for the pointed way that Knightley lances her opponent with it.