For anyone whose idea of a thriller is gunfights, fistfights, explosions, fast-paced editing, gratuitous scares and wild "twists and turns," this is not the movie for you. This is a more slow moving, down to earth, realistic drama than anything else. Not my favorite by Polanski or Ford, but it is damn good. Polanski's style can often feel slow-moving and even boring, but once you "get it" and are into it, you like it that way. It's a nice breath of fresh air after watching all these present-day thrillers, which are basically just "big action movies" with slightly fewer explosions and digital FX.
Dark, gritty, realistic, subtle and minimalistic, this is a thriller for the film connosieur, not your average teeny-bopper who thinks "Distubia" is the best movie ever made.