Farewell
(2009)
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Farewell
(2009)
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| Watch Trailer 0Share... |
| Credited cast: | |||
| Diane Kruger | ... |
Femme jogging
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| Willem Dafoe | ... | ||
| John Wayne | ... |
Tom Doniphon
(archive footage)
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| James Stewart | ... |
Ransom Stoddard
(archive footage)
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| Guillaume Canet | ... |
Pierre Froment
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| Lee Marvin | ... |
Liberty Valance
(archive footage)
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| Fred Ward | ... | ||
| Gary Lewis |
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| Alexandra Maria Lara | ... |
Jessica Froment
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| David Soul | ... |
Hutton
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| Emir Kusturica | ... |
Sergei Gregoriev
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| Ingeborga Dapkunaite | ... |
Natasha
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| Niels Arestrup | ... |
Vallier
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| Benno Fürmann |
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| Dina Korzun | ... |
Alina
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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? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
We just returned from seeing this film as part of the Annual French Film Festival at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, 7/10/10. In the U.S., we have an expression sometimes used to express one's admiration for a certain talented actor/actress who is riveting to watch on screen.I will use this expression here w/ regards to the lead actor, " I could watch Emir Kusturica read the phone book". It is his performance more than any other single factor, that causes me to think very highly of this film.It is a rare thing to watch a film about a real life hero without seeing a film that is also maudlin, clichéd or too simplistic.
But in "Farewell" I felt that the story was compelling,and the screenplay was well written,economical, completely believable and well acted.There were no unnecessary scenes and the whole thing mostly made sense, as sad as that sense was.The cinematography was crummy, but you can't have everything.Besides,I was so mesmerized by K's performance that I didn't really care that much about the cinematography, because my eyes were always focused in on him.As I exited the theater I felt like I had just been hit by a truck, and I am still feeling this film.