Croupier: Review

26th August 2022

Croupier: Review. By Rob Andrews.

Stories that revolve around gambling tend to narrow their focus on the punter, the gamblers, those who weigh up risk and reward and relish the thrill of the game. But what about the individual who oversees the destructive actions of these combustible characters? What about the man on the opposite side of the blackjack table? What about the croupier? Croupier exposes the fascinating inner workings of a casino environment, which we experience through the eyes of a character who finds himself consumed by a toxic work environment.

As this film demonstrates, the life of a croupier is a fascinating one, as casino employee, Jack (Clive Owen) finds himself leading a life as dark and morbid as the gamblers he oversees. With a menacing and often condescending voice-over running parallel with story events, the narrative follows Owen’s aspiring writer character, as his financial issues force him back into the demanding role of a casino croupier.

It isn’t long until Jack’s contrasting career paths intertwine, as the life of a croupier becomes the subject of his next book. What follows is a detailed character study of a man who becomes consumed by his morally dubious casino environment. As his fictional croupier character becomes consumed by his own miserable existence, Jack slowly transforms into a figure reminiscent of a zombie, as Owen excels in his portrayal of an unhinged and conflicted individual. As he struggles to maintain a sense of work-life balance, Jack’s conflicting responsibilities and emotions shroud his every next move in uncertainty, which renders every scene Owen partakes in all the more entertaining.

Croupier intertwines a thoughtful study of both setting and character throughout the story, both of which prove to be thoroughly immersive. The first act excels in gripping the audience from the very get-go, as a strict set of rules are spelled out to Jack in line with his croupier duties, rules which he can’t help but break. Jack’s ignorant attitude towards this stringent rule set lands him in many unfortunate predicaments, propelling him towards an alarming downward spiral.

Jack’s tumble down a dark and morally ambiguous rabbit hole leads to a fascinating turn of story events, as his strained relationship with lover, Marion (Gina McKee) coincides with a sinister plot to sabotage his dreaded place of work. Jack soon finds himself in a disadvantageous game of his own making, as the aspirations hidden beneath his conflicted exterior lead toward a drastic series of events, which threaten to unravel his unenvious lifestyle.

The Croupier‘s strengths lie in its characters and their relationship with the casino environment, which is often brimming with conflict and uneasiness. The film rightfully strips away the glitz and glamour of the fictionalized casino environment, as Croupier engineers a setting firmly steeped in a more murky and combustible reality. Hands are dealt, chips are placed and the wheel is always spinning, as each scene set in the casino teeters on a knife edge, with the uneasy relationship between punter and croupier feeding into a lingering sense of apprehension. The combustible nature of casino customers is often exhibited in sudden and disturbing emotional transitions, which are entirely dependent on the success of each bet they place. In a similar vein to the customers they serve, the casino staff prove just as shady and deeply troubled, as their own problems become exacerbated by the volatility of their everyday workplace.

With its morbid and critical social undertones, Croupier revels in a neo-noir approach to storytelling, by embracing the destructive nature of its highly volatile environment. Jack’s destructive journey explores a side to casinos that most viewers will be less familiar with, providing a fresh take on an often glamorized setting. With a menacing and intriguing character at the heart of its story, Jack’s tumultuous and self-destructive journey culminates in distortion between fiction and reality, as Jack’s literary character grows to mirror the emotionally conflicted nature of its creator.

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