Foxcatcher

John du Pont was a millionaire and wanted to be a wrestler. Mark Schultz was a wrestler and wanted to be a millionaire. Their strange and tragic relationship forms the basis for Foxcatcher, a fascinating character study from director Bennett Miller (Moneyball).

It’s based on an obscure true story that — considering one of them was among the richest men in the world and the other was an Olympic gold-medal winner — many viewers likely won’t know.

The chronology is shuffled a bit in this retelling, with du Pont (Steve Carell) living on family money at the titular Pennsylvania farm, which he has turned into a facility for the U.S. wrestling team — for which he is a sponsor — as it prepares for the 1988 Olympics.

He calls upon Mark (Channing Tatum), who won a gold medal in 1984 and hopes to repeat. Mark is drawn in by the wealth of du Pont, who gradually gains more influence and creates a cult-like environment, even acting as the team’s coach despite lacking knowledge of the sport.

When Mark’s older brother and mentor, Dave (Mark Ruffalo), reluctantly arrives to work as an assistant coach, he gradually becomes frustrated with du Pont’s meddling, while at the same time realizing that the sponsorship money is critical to the team’s success.

As the relationship between Mark and du Pont evolves, the sibling dynamics change as well.

The central mystery surrounds du Pont’s cloudy motives — Dave asks obviously at one point, “What’s he get out of it?” — and the screenplay leaves much of that open to interpretation. We know that du Pont claims to be patriotic, but also is obsessed with the approval of his sickly mother (Vanessa Redgrave), even if his emotions are muted and conflicted.

Tatum physically fits the role, and his performance is nicely understated. But the real revelation here is Carell, wearing extensive makeup for a change-of-pace portrayal of a man whose behavior is both eccentric and erratic. He’s a troubled yet compelling figure controlled by whose emotional baggage evokes an underlying sadness, and who assumes money can fix anything.

Despite its gritty authenticity in some of the sequences on the mat, Foxcatcher isn’t really a sports movie, and it certainly isn’t a conventional underdog saga. The film wrestles with emotions more than bodies, and offers a harrowing examination of power, wealth, and the American dream.

Rated R, 134 minutes.