Foxcatcher: Steve Carell gives performance of career as John du Pont

FOXCATCHER is a creepy tale of tragedy snatched from the jaws of triumph, with an unrecognisable Steve Carell giving a career-best performance.

Foxcatcher (M)

Director: Bennett Miller (Moneyball)

Starring: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave.

Rating: ****

One man’s mentor is another man’s tormentor

Some loners don’t want to come in from the cold. But they do want others to feel the same chill.

The hypnotically eerie drama Foxcatcher tells the true story of John du Pont, a solitary eccentric philanthropist who began investing heavily in the sport of Olympic wrestling in the 1980s.

The reclusive American moneyman’s motives in building an expensive training facility around two medal-winning brothers remain in dispute to this day.

The tragic final outcome of the project, however, speaks for itself.

If you are unfamiliar with the du Pont affair, I’d advise resisting the urge to do a little background research prior to seeing Foxcatcher.

While it is easy to detect from very early on that this strange endeavour was fated to end badly, the film’s ability to both involve and unsettle viewers is heightened without key information in advance.

Influence ... Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) listens intently to the nonsensical instruction of would-be wrestling coach John du Pont (Steve Carell).

As Foxcatcher begins, John du Pont (played by Steve Carell) has already spent big to buy begrudged respect from the powers-that-be of bird watching and stamp collecting. Now he has purchased some influence upon the US amateur wrestling scene.

Using gold medallist Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) as a promotional drawcard, du Pont eventually finds himself feeding and clothing a majority of America’s best grapplers on a year-round basis at his home: a spectacular rural estate known as Foxcatcher Farm.

The du Pont club ... Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo in a scene from Foxcatcher.

As you may have gathered by now, anyone whose chief pastimes are gazing at birds, stamps and burly blokes in tights is not going to be the epitome of normal.

In fact, du Pont is borderline insane. Most simple interactions with his fellow human beings seem to cause him sharp pain, as if he is passing some kind of stone.

He is one of those rare individuals who wants people all around him, as long as they are nowhere near him.

This is how it works in the world of du Pont: the money pulls ‘em in, then his hyper-awkward personality pushes ‘em back. This allows du Pont the space he needs to falsely promote himself as a key coach of the US team (primarily to prove a point to his permanently unimpressed mother).

Disguise ... in Foxcatcher,Steve Carell is wearing the best fake nose in a movie since Nicole Kidman in The Hours.

Poor Mark Schultz isn’t the brightest light bulb in the box, and he fails to grasp how truly weird (and possibly dangerous) his benefactor might truly be.

After some initial reluctance, Mark’s older brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo), also a gold medallist, joins the du Pont club as well.

Dave immediately senses the Not-Quite-Right emissions given off by du Pont are exceedingly high. However, he’s prepared to look the other way — perhaps at the expense of his younger sibling’s welfare — if it means wrestling stays on the gravy train to Foxcatcher Farm.

Director Bennett Miller (Capote,Moneyball) is a master of making proven fact play like unpredictable fiction, and the du Pont affair is tailor-made to benefit from his exclusive expertise.

For many viewers, the standout aspect of this uncomfortably unforgettable experience will be the performance of a near-unrecognisable Carell (best known as the comic anchor of the US TV series The Office for many seasons) as du Pont.

The character’s combination of blind arrogance and fragile grip on sanity is a tough assignment that Carell completes with relative ease.

Originally published as Foxcatcher: Steve Carell gives performance of career as John du Pont