If you had gone to a movie theater showing Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead in 2007 without knowing anything about it or who directed it, you’d probably think it was the work of a dynamic new director who had talent to burn, someone possibly in his or her late twenties or early thirties. Of course, we know it’s the work of the 83-year-old Lumet but the film is just as fresh, surprising and alive to the harrowing and painful emotions of its tough familial breakdown as Lumet’s best work and that means on a par with 12 Angry Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Network (1976).

Without spoiling any of the film’s unexpected twists and turns – and I recommend avoiding the movie’s trailer if you want to come to this cold – all you need to know about the movie is that it deals with a middle-class family thrown into crisis mode brought on unintentionally by two of its members whose desperate need for money has led them into the abyss.

A nightmare vision of an American family unraveling, this is Greek tragedy on a grand scale and bares comparison with Lumet’s stark adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night (1962), another film which descended into hell by degrees, taking you into deeper, blacker depths with each step. And like the best of Lumet’s work Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is an actor’s showcase with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei working at the peak of their powers.

Hoffman, in particular, takes risks as an actor which pay off spectacularly, taking us places on a dramatic and emotional level which can be incredibly uncomfortable yet revelatory. Hawke is no less impressive, playing against his handsome charmer of Before Sunrise (1995) and Great Expectations (1998) and creating a portrait of an over-30 ne’er-do-well who is completely incapable and unprepared for life as an adult. 

Albert Finney remains in the background for the first half of the film, muted and low-key, but comes forward in the second half when his gradual realization of what is really happening brings him to the point of blind rage and then decisive action. It’s a powerful performance and Lumet honors him with a final, devastating fade-out.

In a role only slightly less important than the three male leads, Marisa Tomei provides a vivid portrayal of Hoffman’s self-centered wife whose self-image is based almost completely on her attractiveness and sex appeal which is considerable – but not enough to improve her lot in life. Rounding out the supporting cast are Rosemary Harris and Amy Ryan who make their brief scenes stand out in ways that come back to haunt you later. You’ll also spot Michael Shannon as a menacing streetwise character who begins stalking Hank (played by Ethan Hawke). Shannon’s next movie offered him his first major breakout role – Revolutionary Road (2008) – and he earned his first Oscar nomination (for Best Supporting Actor) for the part.

Probably the only thing about Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead that could be construed as trendy and typical of contemporary movies is the structure which avoids a linear narrative as if that is something to be avoided at all costs. Maybe this is continual fallout from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994) and even more recent movies such as JT Mollner’s Strange Darling (2023) are guilty of it but it doesn’t undermine the power of Lumet’s film. And some viewers may find that this fragmented, time-hopping approach works fine when applied by a master like Lumet.

When preparing Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead for the screen, Lumet approached the project in the same manner he has practiced for decades. After casting, he always has a two week rehearsal period with his actors in which they explore their characters and the material in detail. “I don’t just do it for the actors,” he said in an interview with Geoffrey Macnab for Sight and Sound. “I draw the whole arc of each character in these rehearsals, and when we finish I’ve learned more about the work than I’ve ever known before.”

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead certainly features one of Lumet’s most impressive casts and he described how the process transpired in an article on the website Cinephilia & Beyond. “I sent the script first to Philip, one of the finest actors in the country, and I gave him the choice to play either brother: Hank or Andy. Then I sent it to Ethan. And Ethan said he wanted to play Hank. I was surprised, because Hank is a weak character, and most actors are afraid of that. But Ethan had this image of how to activate a weak man. He’s always in motion. I preferred Andy to be older, to be the influence on Hank, pushing him. So I called Philip back, and he said, “Great.” That simple. Marisa Tomei was my first choice to play Andy’s wife, who’s cheating on him with Hank. Marisa is wonderful after that sex scene, when sadness overwhelms her. I love that moment. I also love it when Albert Finney, as the father, walks down the hospital corridor at the end. There’s another scene in the script after that with Ethan and Marisa, but I didn’t use it. I knew the movie was over when Albert walked out. It doesn’t matter what happens after. Let the audience wonder.”

Some viewers may actually be shocked by the movie’s opening scene in which Andy (Hoffman) has rear entry sex with his wife (Tomei) as the camera holds on the image of their nude, undulating bodies for an uncomfortably long period of time. It’s a jarring first scene and Lumet knew that Hoffman might be reluctant to do it even more than Tomei. “I don’t think Philip has ever conceived of himself in the nude f*cking on screen,” Lumet said in an interview for MovingImageSource. “It’s just not something that comes his way. So when we started blocking, Marisa hopped up on the bed, got on her hands and knees, slapped her ass and said, ‘Come on, Philly, let’s go!’ I could kiss her. Because if Philip had any inhibitions, they were gone.”

In an interview with Marisa Tomei by Brad Balfour of blackfilm.com, the actress mentioned that she was working on another film – Walt Becker’s road trip comedy Wild Hogs – at the same time she was rehearsing scenes for Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. “It was really draining and I never really felt like I got in the groove, and that’s why it was great that Sidney had such a clear vision in the first place, because I felt like I was completely at sea. I wasn’t counting on that happening. The timing just shifted so I was going there and putting on a cowboy hat and acting like a silly girl in this huge comedy [Wild Hogs]. Then when I got over there [Lumet’s set], I was getting into this gritty world. Ultimately, I just had to go on instinct and she’s kind of aimless [her character Gina], so it worked for me.”

If the finished work seems unusually dark, it reflected Lumet’s view of American society at the time and he didn’t see things improving in the future. In the Sight and Sound interview he said, “I am not optimistic at all. I think we’re at a terrible point in our history and I hope we can tum it around. It’s not just politics, but I think people themselves are changing – not only in the US but in Europe as well – and I think television has a lot to do with it. The experience of watching TV is isolating and that isolation keeps growing. There’s even the idea that my film will appear on a cell phone – and that’s isolation reduced to an image of two by three inches. It’s a horrible idea and that increasing isolation is showing up in all aspects of our lives.”

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead was initially released in late October of 2007 so it was playing in theaters during the pre-Thanksgiving season. It might not be the kind of holiday movie that you want to take the whole family to see. Or maybe it is. As a cautionary moral tale or a portrait of a contemporary American family rendered as a spectacular train wreck, you couldn’t find a more riveting emotional experience on movie screens at the time.

As for those who have written Lumet off after a rather lackluster decade or more of disappointments  –  A Stranger Among Us (1992), Guilty as Sin (1993), Critical Care (1997), Gloria (1999) with Sharon Stone, Find Me Guilty (2006) with Vin Diesel – I’m here to tell you Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead feels like the work of a dynamic new director. Unfortunately, the movie was Lumet’s swan song and he died four years later at the age of 86.

When the film opened, it received some of Lumet’s best notices in years. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “Sidney Lumet’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” is such a superb crime melodrama that I almost want to leave it at that. To just stop writing right now and advise you to go out and see it as soon as you can… This is a movie, I promise you, that grabs you and won’t let you think of anything else. It’s wonderful when a director like Lumet wins a Lifetime Achievement Oscar at 80, and three years later makes one of his greatest achievements.”

What is surprising is the fact that Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead was completely ignored by the Motion Picture Academy that year. No acting award nominations. Not even any secondary category nominations for Kelly Masterson’s riveting screenplay (his debut) or Ron Fortunato’s gritty, realistic cinematography or Carter Burwell’s chilling, suspenseful score. But I predict that this film will be revisited and reappraised one day as Lumet’s late overlooked masterpiece.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead was released as a dual format disc (DVD/Blu-ray) by Image Entertainment in April 2008 and includes a featurette on the making of the film.

Other websites of interest:

http://www.popentertainment.com/lumet.htm

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/sidney-lumet-before-devil-knows-youre-dead

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/before-the-devil-knows-youre-dead/

https://blackfilm.com/20071026/features/phillipseymourhoffman.shtml

https://www.blackfilm.com/20071026/features/marisatomei.shtml