Farewell (2009)
"L'affaire Farewell" (original title)

The French intelligence service alerts the U.S. about a Soviet spy operation during the height of the Cold War, which sets off an unfortunate chain of events.

Director:

Christian Carion

Writers:

Christian Carion, Serguei Kostine (book),

Stars:

Diane Kruger, Willem Dafoe, John Wayne

Cast

Credited cast:
Diane Kruger	...	Femme jogging
Willem Dafoe	...	Feeney
John Wayne	...	Tom Doniphon (archive footage)
James Stewart	...	Ransom Stoddard (archive footage)
Guillaume Canet	...	Pierre Froment
Lee Marvin	...	Liberty Valance (archive footage)
Fred Ward	...	Ronald Reagan
Alexandra Maria Lara	...	Jessica Froment
Emir Kusturica	...	Sergei Gregoriev
David Soul	...	Hutton
Gary Lewis
Ingeborga Dapkunaite	...	Natasha
Benno Fürmann
Niels Arestrup	...	Vallier
Dina Korzun	...	Alina

Storyline

In 1985, Sergei Gregoriev, a Soviet colonel, wants to force his nation to reform, so he leaks secret information to the West. He picks an unlikely contact, a Pierre Froment, French nebbish in the diplomatic corps. Gregoriev keeps a lot of balls in the air - a marriage, a teen son he's trying to bond with, a mistress who's a colleague at work; his tradecraft is equally reckless. Meanwhile, Froment keeps his spy work secret from his German wife, and Mitterrand uses Gregoriev's information to make France indispensable to Reagan and his government. When Gregoriev leaks a list of key Soviet moles and spies, Gorbachev is left without secret intelligence. Will Gregoriev get what he wants?

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Plot Keywords:

spy | french | france | cold war | double agent | 

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Taglines:

Secrets have the power to change the course of history.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

France

Language:

French English Russian

Release Date:

23 September 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Farewell

Filming Locations:

France

Box Office

Budget:

€17,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nord-Ouest Productions, Le Bureau, Pathé

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Oval office was recreated in a disused warehouse in Ivry-sur-Seine (Paris south-eastern suburb), in Lenin street (rue Lénine).

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Goofs

In a scene identified as taking place in April 1981, Grigoriev's son listens to the Queen/David Bowie song "Under Pressure." The song was not recorded until July 1981, released in October 1981.

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Connections

Featured in En bonne intelligence (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Steppin' Out"
Performed by Joe Jackson

User Reviews

Super understated slow boiler (Spy Game Plus)

Farewell is a spy drama set in Moscow/Russia in the early 1980's. It stars Guillaume Canet and Emir Custarica, both noted directors in their own rights.It is based on real events with the basic story correct though the nature of the two leading characters and a few events are somewhat changed or omitted.

The plot centres around the leaking of Russian intelligence to the French government. Sergei (Canet) works for the Russian secret service but has been recruited by (or volunteered to) the French government to pass intelligence data from his office. Sergei is doing this for purely moral reasons arguing that it will one day bring the system down and give his son a better future. His contact is a French engineer working in Moscow, Pierre, coerced in to helping by the French government and operating as Sergei's dropping point. The story develops around the personal relationship between Sergei and Pierre and also that of their families. Sergei is confident and casual but ultimately a little careless. While Pierre becomes paranoid and with his young family in tow begins to feel the stress.

The data turns out to industrial espionage on everything from the Space Shuttle to the US defence strategy and even secret communication codes. When the American are shown the information by the French (in a neat piece of one-upmanship) it is only a matter of time before action has to be taken and lives are in danger.

The pace is slow and constant and never flat. Tantalisingly delicate, a very light brush from the director allows the actors to communicate in manner rarely seen in Hollywood films. Similar with the cinematography which is used sparingly and always to accentuate the story. Watch out for the early scene where they first meet which simply says 'spies'. Then the scenes of northern Russia in winter.

This is a very smart film with excellent understated performances from all the cast. Watch out for several more famous actors in cameo and small roles. Fred Ward playing Ronald Reagan looks positively weird though they get away with it.

If you arrived here before viewing be sure, it is well worth watching. Spy Game plus.