CLIENT 9: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELLIOT SPITZER

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Alex Gibney's inquiring documentary examines the complicity of enemies who contributed to New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's expedient downfall related to his use of high-priced escorts in 2008.

Interviews with such Spitzer rivals as former Senate Leader Joe Bruno and AIG CEO Hank Greenberg reveal a politically motivated personal hatred that is deep as it is wide.

Without putting too fine a point on the fact that many politicians have remained in office after committing far worse transgressions, Gibney's candid interviews with Spitzer himself reveal a regretful but still politically ambitious man.

The filmmaker's use of actress Wrenn Schmidt to perform transcribed interviews with Spitzer's favored escort of choice, the camera-shy "Angelina," proves a masterstroke of creative substitution. With the aid of cinematographer Maryse Alberti's eye for composition, Gibney captures a sense of New York's vicious political skullduggery that launched the federal investigation into Spitzer's use of the now infamous Emperors Club VIP. "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer" is as important a historical record as it is a microcosmic study of endemic problems with America's political landscape.

Rated R. 117 mins.