Opera music adds to drama of Allen’s ‘Match Point’

Music has always played an integral part in Woody Allen’s movies.

There’s the snappy 1920s jazz score with Allen supplying the clarinet licks in 1973’s “Sleeper”; Diane Keaton winsomely singing the standards “It Had to Be You” and “Seems Like Old Times” in his multi-Oscar-winning 1977 romantic comedy “Annie Hall”; and George Gershwin’s transcendent, symphonic “Rhapsody in Blue” accompanying the title sequence in “Manhattan.”

Allen generally gravitates to the vintage tunes of the 1930s and 1940s, but on occasion he has ventured into the classical realm. The music of Rimsky-Korsakov was the perfect counterpoint in his 1975 comedy “Love and Death,” set in Russia. And he utilized the music by Franz Schubert for his 1989 drama “Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

For his Golden Globe-nominated melodrama “Match Point,” which opens Wednesday, Allen enters the realm of grand opera.

Allen’s first film shot entirely in England, the dark drama revolves around Chris (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), a washed-up tennis pro from a poor background, who finds new opportunity when he befriends Tom (Matthew Goode), the son of a wealthy London family. He marries Tom’s sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer) and quickly climbs the corporate ladder at the company of his father-in-law (Brian Cox).

But Chris’ wealth, standing and security are threatened when he becomes obsessed with Tom’s sexy but emotionally distraught fiancee, Nola (Scarlett Johansson), a struggling American actress.

The music works on two levels in “Match Point” -- the characters are all opera buffs, and it also reflects Chris’ passion, jealousies, guilt and rage.

The movie includes operatic selections from “Rigoletto,” “Otello,” “Salvatore Rosa” and “Macbeth.”