They are handsome, they are rich, they belong to the most elite club of Oxford University. This is the Riot Club ! A prestigious club from the outside, but depraved from the inside.
“The Riot Club” is adapted from the play by Laura Wade, who is also the screenwriter. This is the latest film by Lone Scherfig who directed « One Day » starring Anne Hathaway and « An Education » starring Carey Mulligan. This film deals with the University elite world which set reminds you of the Hogwarts universe (minus the innocence). So, there’s an inspiring context that allows you to get into the heart of the matter.
The director highlights with this film those small elitist clubs’ nonsense whose members are finally some kind of pretty little birds that try to be proud as a peacock & who actually will hide behind their mothers (or more accurately their lawyers) at soon as they are in trouble.
Out of the ten Oxford students belonging to the Riot Club, both are true outsiders : Alistair Ryle (Sam Claflin) and Miles Richards (Max Irons). They both think they will find an united group by joining this closed club – and they especially hope to activate their network. They will be disappointed by realizing what is really happening in the club.
Max Irons’ performance as a conflicted student is well done. He manages to play dilemma that Miles has to face between his club membership and his new romance.
I give a special mention to Sam Claflin (who plays Finnick in « The Hunger Games » saga) in the role of a young and rich student who seems quiet, shy, nearly asocial at first, and who always spreads his knowledge. Alistair finally turns out to be a kind of an extreme and frustrated conservative who hates poor people. His character goes crescendo in finally revealing his true intentions & beliefs.
What would be a film about men, without some female roles? Well, the only three female characters in the film are actually merely stooges with these young adults, who try to prove their virility (with a role-playing that gives the impression that each woman surrounded by these young men will not escape unscathed from there). But it also shows, in some cases, their current pettiness, facing people who are outside their elitist game.
The screenplay is quite good, and manage to create tension helped by the soundtrack. It could be annoying for the audience to watch it rises and falls again and to finally disappear. However, it’s a brilliant way to show that all members of this club (or some of them) are just smooth talkers, who are unable to put into action their deepest thoughts and expect unintentionally, a true leader who would say out loud what all these daddy’s boys really think.
“The Riot Club” is a nice movie that tries to denounce somehow what lies behind the student elite of the great British universities. Even though it is far from being bad, you come out the cinema a bit unsatisfied due to the lack of depth of some characters that you would have liked to discover outside of the club.
