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Farewell (L'affaire Farewell) (2009) Carion
Fare thee well, my friend
An espionage film told mainly from a French and Russain point of view---instead of car chases and falling bodies, although when they do fall, they do land with a sickening thud. This film is filled with overt and covert friendships, and their small and large betrayals.
A French engineer in Moscow, simply as a favor for one of the guys in the embassy substitutes in a routine meeting with someone who turns out to be the biggest Russian spy to come in from the cold in decades---and then, won't let himself be passed off on someone else in the French intelligence pool--since the enginner is first contact and a bit of a schlub (with only cursory KGB surveillance) so he sticks with him like glue.
The film is based on the true story of the legendary soviet traitor, Vladimir Vetrov (maybe the people in the west would look more favorably on him if they were aware of his contributions to history) So the Russians were less then helpful in getting this film made, refusing access to the country and some of their top actors. All of the exteriors shots were obtained with a visa for a fake soft drink commercial.
Nice things? The film gets a brownie point for working in a poem that completely expresses Gregoriev's motives. There's a nice contrast between the two actors. Director Emir Kusturica, as the KGB colonel, Sergei Gregoriev. He has a great hounddog face. A bon vivant who knows it's going to end extremely badly for himself but delights greatly in the time he has left; He enjoys chatting Pierre up about French culture. And Guillaume Canet, as the reluctant French spy Pierre Froment who's not really cut out for this stressful world of deceit and absolutely hates with a passion, lying to his wife everyday--he develops stomach ulcers.
Diane Kruger has a small cameo as a nefarious Soviet mole working in Washington---she had a nice part in Carion's last film "Joyeux Noël". Nice musical counterpoints mark the era, when of course all western music was decadent and had to be smuggled in. A nice visual quote from the Nina's pop hit: 99 red balloons "I think of you and let it go" And there's also a telling film clip from a John Ford film that echoes Vetrov's unknown hero status.
Farewell ~ 8/10
Fare thee well, my friend
An espionage film told mainly from a French and Russain point of view---instead of car chases and falling bodies, although when they do fall, they do land with a sickening thud. This film is filled with overt and covert friendships, and their small and large betrayals.
A French engineer in Moscow, simply as a favor for one of the guys in the embassy substitutes in a routine meeting with someone who turns out to be the biggest Russian spy to come in from the cold in decades---and then, won't let himself be passed off on someone else in the French intelligence pool--since the enginner is first contact and a bit of a schlub (with only cursory KGB surveillance) so he sticks with him like glue.
The film is based on the true story of the legendary soviet traitor, Vladimir Vetrov (maybe the people in the west would look more favorably on him if they were aware of his contributions to history) So the Russians were less then helpful in getting this film made, refusing access to the country and some of their top actors. All of the exteriors shots were obtained with a visa for a fake soft drink commercial.
Nice things? The film gets a brownie point for working in a poem that completely expresses Gregoriev's motives. There's a nice contrast between the two actors. Director Emir Kusturica, as the KGB colonel, Sergei Gregoriev. He has a great hounddog face. A bon vivant who knows it's going to end extremely badly for himself but delights greatly in the time he has left; He enjoys chatting Pierre up about French culture. And Guillaume Canet, as the reluctant French spy Pierre Froment who's not really cut out for this stressful world of deceit and absolutely hates with a passion, lying to his wife everyday--he develops stomach ulcers.
Diane Kruger has a small cameo as a nefarious Soviet mole working in Washington---she had a nice part in Carion's last film "Joyeux Noël". Nice musical counterpoints mark the era, when of course all western music was decadent and had to be smuggled in. A nice visual quote from the Nina's pop hit: 99 red balloons "I think of you and let it go" And there's also a telling film clip from a John Ford film that echoes Vetrov's unknown hero status.
Farewell ~ 8/10