(2010; English and Italian) Suspense and seduction of the viewer are the only intention of director Anton Corbijn's dark, film-noirish thriller, adapted by screenwriter Rowan Joffe from Martin Booth's novel, A Very Private Gentleman. Who are these assassins and why are they killing one another? What government or organization do they represent and for what purpose are they risking their lives? None of that is important.

Following a job in Dalarna, Sweden, during which he's killed Ingrid, a woman with whom he's had a romantic relationship, after misconstruing her involvement in a set up, and two other Swedes attempting to kill him, Jack Clarke (George Clooney) calls his contact Pavel (Johan Leysen) from Rome, who instructs him to drive to Castelvecchio, a tiny village in the region of Abruzzo. "Above all, don't make any friends, Jack."

Instead, he goes to Castel del Monte, a larger community, where he makes acquaintance with Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), saying he's a photojournalist. How is it that an elderly priest of an out-of-the-way parish speaks English? Nearly all the younger Italians speak English and want to practice it with Jack. Insightful into the soul of sinners, Fr Benedetto says to Jack, who expresses no interest in Italian history: "Of course, you are American. You think you can escape history. You live for the present."

In fact, Jack is the only American in the film. When he tells his new client (by way of Pavel) Mathilde (Thekla Renten) from Belgium not to move when a butterfly lands on her arm because it's endangered, she calls him Mister Butterfly. In his room Jack reads from a book about lepidopterans, listens to music from the opera Madame Butterfly, and has a tattoo of a butterfly on his back. Using the name Edward, Jack has agreed to construct a customized weapon for Mathilde (whose hair is a different style or color each time they meet), having the range of a rifle but the effect of a submachine gun with a sound suppressor.

"You cannot deny the existence of hell," says Fr Benedetto: "You live in it. It is a place without love." Jack discovers a stunningly beautiful prostitute, Clara (Violante Placido), for whom alone this movie is worth watching - she is to die for - with whom he begins to fall in love.

In need of manufactured-metal parts, Jack (who says he's no good with machines) goes to a garage recommended by Fr Benedetto, where he takes notice of a photograph with the priest and Fabio. When Fr Benedetto comments on Jack's hands belonging to a craftsman (good with machines), not an artist, Jack replies that he suspects the clergyman has another reason to be called father.

After someone pursues Jack at night through the town, he calls Pavel: "The Swedes found me." How did they locate him? Pavel responds: "You've lost your edge."

On edge with Clara, who questions his secretiveness, Jack begins to suspect she's luring him into a trap. Is he about to make the same mistake as with Ingrid? "All the sheep in my flock are dear to me," says Fr Benedetto: "But some are dear the most. Especially those that have lost their way."

Jack makes a decision to end his dangerous career. "A man can be rich, if he has God in his heart," observes the priest. "I don't think God is very interested in me, Father," answers Jack.

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