Spy(ies) (2009)
"Espion(s)" (original title)

Director:

Nicolas Saada

Writer:

Nicolas Saada

Stars:

Guillaume Canet, Géraldine Pailhas, Stephen Rea

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Guillaume Canet	...	Vincent
Géraldine Pailhas	...	Claire
Stephen Rea	...	M. Palmer
Hippolyte Girardot	...	Simon
Archie Panjabi	...	Anna
Vincent Regan	...	Peter Burton
Alexander Siddig	...	Malik
Jamie Harding	...	Fouad
Hiam Abbass	...	Wafa
Bruno Blairet	...	Gérard
Fred Epaud	...	Laurent
Michael Marks	...	L'antiquaire
Alexandre Steiger	...	Paul Dupuy
Seb Cardinal	...	Le chauffeur de Palmer (as Sebastien Cardinal)
Tarek Khalil	...	Otriz

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

paris france | charles de gaulle airport | diplomatic courier | syrian | terrorist attack | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Mars Distribution [fr]

Country:

France UK

Language:

French English

Release Date:

28 January 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Espions

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film, The, Studio 37, Mars Distribution

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in En bonne intelligence (2010)

User Reviews

Screenplay on the fly - and, it shows.

I was looking forward to this bilingual European movie. However it turned out to be quite preposterous. The music was very good, cinematography reasonably good, interesting locations. But it became hard to believe in the characters, especially the leading man. On the one hand he is a thief, he drinks incessantly, using drugs frequently and yet he is set up to portray a doctor involved in international humanitarian work and has to pull that off against masterful forces in espionage. Not only does he tackle characters written as heavyweights in the spy business, but he clearly defies those who are giving him a break and then unbelievably gets caught up in tearful grieving for one of the characters whom he is disobeying. The script seems to have been written as the movie proceeded from one scene to another. There is no real connectivity or logic to the protagonists actions whether in his role as the humanitarian or as the hapless degenerate druggie who got caught out. The premise of using such a loser for an important international espionage event boggles the mind. The principal women of the film while reasonable good actors and very attractive really are unable to pull off two of the films turning point events, solely because of the impracticality and unbelievability of their tasks - again, it looks like a script written on the fly. Finally, what is it about films that have the central stars locate each other in one of the world's busiest airports? Most of us have trouble finding a washroom.