Farewell (2009)

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:

Guillaume Canet, Emir Kusturica, Alexandra Maria Lara

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Guillaume Canet	...	Pierre
Emir Kusturica	...	Grigoriev
Alexandra Maria Lara	...	Jessica
Ingeborga Dapkunaite	...	Natasha
Philippe Magnan	...	Mitterrand
Aleksey Gorbunov	...	Choukhov (as Oleksii Gorbunov)
Dina Korzun	...	Alina
Niels Arestrup	...	Vallier
David Soul	...	Hutton
Fred Ward	...	Reagan
Willem Dafoe	...	Feeney
Marc Berman	...	Jacques
Christian Carion	...	Favier
Evgeniy Kharlanov	...	Igor (as Yevgeni Kharlanov)
Lauriane Riquet	...	Ophelie

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 | cold war | france | aids | 

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Taglines:

Some secrets have the power to change the course of history.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the French electronics conglomerate which had a branch in Moscow, Russia was "Thomson-CSF".

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Goofs

There is a poster of the movie "We are from the Jazz" on the theater window. This movie came out two years later - in 1983.

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Connections

Features The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

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Soundtracks

Sous l'aigle double
by Richard Wagner
Orchestrated by François Rauber

User Reviews

Brilliant

What a brilliant movie. Spies, lies,twisted mind games. No explosions, no bullets, no exciting background music, no old hat tricks. Inspite of that, or better, because of that, tense, suspenseful and original movie. Real spies are not superheroes, flying through the air, ducking hundreds of bullets, overpowering dozens of villains with their martial arts skills unparalleled in the universe. Most of the time they happen to be, timid or coerced or dedicated to a cause. Their job is not glamorous, they scurry like rats in a dark alley, they sweat and smell,sometimes they live, most of the time they die. Finally the real spy movie, deep and harsh, leaving the sickening feeling. As usual the decent, courageous people get shoved aside or get killed for a higher cause- saving some ambitious creep's ass.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Production Notes

Country:

France

Language:

French English Russian

Release Date:

23 September 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Farewell

Filming Locations:

France

Box Office

Budget:

EUR17,500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,406,706

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nord-Ouest Films, Le Bureau, Pathé

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color Black and White (archive footage) Color (archive footage)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1