Monday, February 1, 2010

FAREWELL




Spy thriller
In Russian and French with English subtitles
Original title “L'affaire Farewell
Based on a true story

F.Y.I.
The Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST) was created in 1944 as a domestic intelligence agency within the French National Police. Its mandate includes counterespionage, counterterrorism and the security of France against foreign threats and interference, including economic.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Guillaume Canet: Pierre Froment, an engineer working in Moscow
Alexandra Maria Lara: his wife Jessica
Emir Kusturica: Serguei Grigoriev
Ingeborga Dapkunaite: his wife Natasha
Niels Arestrup: J. Vallier, Director of the DST
Philippe Magnan: French President François Mitterand
Fred Ward: President of the United States Ronald Reagan
Willem Dafoe: CIA Director Jack Feeney

REVIEW
Making effective use of archival film to set the scene, it is soon apparent that the Cold War-era made men do unusual things. By taking time to develop the characters, we get some insight as to their thinking and rationalization. Along the way the tension becomes almost palpable.

The acting is uniformly good and the great attention to detail makes it all seem real.

CLASSIFICATION
for some sexuality and violence.

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