Certificate: 15
Running Time: 122 mins
UK Distributor: Studiocanal
UK Release Date: 18 October 2024
Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan, Ben Sullivan, Charlie Carrick, Mark Rendall, Joe Pingue
Ali Abbasi (director, producer), Gabriel Sherman (writer), Daniel Bekerman, Julianne Forde, Jacob Jarek, Louis Tisné and Ruth Treacy (producers), Martin Dirkov, David Holmes and Brian Irvine (composers), Kasper Tuxen (cinematographer), Olivier Bugge Coutté and Olivia Neergaard-Holm (editors)
Ruthless lawyer Roy Cohn (Strong) obtains a new protégé: young Donald Trump (Stan)…
There is almost nobody out there who is eager to see a film about Donald Trump right now. His most loyal supporters aren’t going to head on out to see it, since it dares to speak ill of their lord and master. More left-leaning voters won’t want to watch something that attempts to humanise a pretty despicable public figure in any way shape or form. And everyone else is, quite frankly, absolutely exhausted by his frequent dominance of the news cycle.
In that regard, it’s easy to write The Apprentice off as a film made and released at the wrong time… but then again, when is the right time for a film like this? Most of us well and truly know the kind of scumbag that Trump is and always has been, so it makes no difference if director Ali Abbasi’s film was released now or five years into the future, for the film ultimately doesn’t cover new ground when it comes to exploring why this person is so detestable. Although, by framing itself as some kind of twisted origin story, the film does at least try to make something profound, even if you’re never quite on board with the directions that it takes.
The film begins in 1973, when a young Trump (Sebastian Stan) approaches prolific lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) to assist him and his father, real estate tycoon Fred Trump (Martin Donovan), with defending a federal lawsuit against their accused discrimination against Black tenants. Cohn’s ruthless and combative nature not only wins the case but impresses the young Trump so much that he begins to view him as a mentor, and Cohn – keen to impart his radical wisdom onto a willing protégé – teaches him everything he needs to succeed, from constantly attacking his enemies to never admitting defeat, even when all evidence suggests otherwise. Soon, Trump embodies these mantras to become a powerful real estate mogul, but in the process becomes, well, Donald Trump, and in doing so alienates everyone from his wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova) to Cohn himself, who becomes increasingly disturbed by the monster he has helped create.
While there is some leniency required to fully buy that Donald Trump was, in fact, once a person with an actual soul, The Apprentice is at its most interesting when it’s exploring the process in which he sold that soul during his Faustian relationship with Roy Cohn. When we first meet Stan’s Trump, he certainly has a sense of ego and entitlement, but nothing that can’t be tamed or even controlled, but almost immediately upon encountering Strong’s Cohn, who by contrast is far more repugnant, prejudiced and abrasive – in other words, a prototype Donald Trump – you can feel the eyes of the young man widen with every crass comment that comes out of the lawyer’s mouth, as though something is awakening inside of him that’s always been there. Their relationship plays out with an intriguing menace, as Cohn initially takes advantage of young Trump’s reliance on him as a mentor for entirely self-serving purposes, until Trump ends up doing the same, switching up the dynamic as soon as things go well for the protégé and less so for the mentor.
However, it’s when Donald Trump finally becomes who he was destined to be that the film loses some of its power. For most of the rest of the film, you are watching this deeply detestable character continuously do more and more terrible things, from screwing over mentally unstable family members to sexually assaulting his wife, and not only is it uncomfortable to watch but, given that it’s all being done by a figure whom many of us wouldn’t put it past to actually commit these atrocities in real life, it almost feels a bit exploitative. Abbasi, who’s dealt with many of society’s lowest citizens in his previous films like child pornography makers in Border and misogynistic serial killers in Holy Spider, and screenwriter Gabriel Sherman struggle to find a balance between sophistication and shock value, often veering towards the latter as they double down on Trump’s negative public image in ways that ultimately aren’t that fresh. At least in the earlier scenes with him and Cohn, you could follow along with this character’s rapid descent into moral corruption, but once he’s established as the infamous mogul it becomes a feast of unpleasantness.
As Trump himself, Sebastian Stan treads a fine line between character and caricature, largely resisting the urge to do a full-on SNL style impression while injecting enough of his own brand of humanity into someone who increasingly has none (though for an overall stronger performance by this actor in a much smarter and more daring film, I strongly recommend A Different Man). Jeremy Strong, on the other hand, is fantastic here, completely embracing his character’s moral depravity in ways that make Kendall Roy from Succession look like Fred Rogers by comparison, and displays such a deep ferocity that even make him an intimidating physical presence, even in later scenes where things begin to take their toll on the conflicted lawyer.
While it is easily carried by these two grandiose performances, The Apprentice is a film that remains superficial toward its main subject, one that the world already has their own opinion on (to where the film doesn’t even hide that face, by inserting a few overt references to his later Presidential campaign), and especially one that, whatever you may think of him, we would all be far better off never having to hear about him ever again.
The Apprentice is a largely superficial Donald Trump origin story that starts off as a compelling Faustian study of his gradual corruption, but becomes increasingly unpleasant as soon as he transforms into the person we all know him as today.
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