Ballerina Dominika Egorova is recruited to 'Sparrow School,' a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon. Her first mission, targeting a C.I.A. agent, threatens to unravel the security of both nations.
A young Russian intelligence officer is assigned to seduce a first-tour CIA agent who handles the CIA's most sensitive penetration of Russian intelligence. The two young officers collide in a charged atmosphere of trade-craft, deception, and inevitably forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but the lives of others as well.
When 'Red Sparrow' source novelist Jason Matthews completed his thirty-three year tenure with the CIA, he found that he was not content to remain idle in his retirement. Flush with time, Matthews took up writing for his second act. "The career was so experiential. There was a great gap to fill," Matthews says of his adjustment to post-CIA life. "It was either day trading, or fishing, or going for walks. It was as much therapy as anything else, starting to write." The longtime fan of John le Carré and Ian Fleming began work on 'Red Sparrow', which was published in 2013 and became a best-seller and the foundation for a trilogy: 'Palace of Treason' was the second in the series and upcoming is 'The Kremlin's Candidate'. See more »
Goofs
At London's Heathrow Airport, there's an announcement about British European Airways over the PA system. That airline dissolved in 1974 when it merged with BOAC to become British Airways. See more »
The title doesn't appear until the 10-minute mark. See more »
Alternate Versions
The UK version is cut for "strong sadistic violence" to earn a 15 certificate instead of an 18, which was done based on BBFC advice. As both countries make up the same distribution region, Ireland also received the same cut version (rated 16 for cinema and 18 on video).
The contentious scene shows Ustinov being strangled:
In the UK version, we only see a brief establishing shot where his hands are covering his throat, cutting right to a close-up of Dominika struggling but completely clean. The censored footage shows the wire cutting into Ustinov's throat for much longer, in more graphic detail after his arms hang loose, and him bleeding on Dominika's chest.
Ustinov collapsing uses an alternate shot in the UK version, and the second close-up of Dominika is digitally bloodless as with the first, but there's still blood on her chest when putting on her clothes as per the uncut version (a continuity error).
The uncut version is roughly 13 seconds longer. See more »
Andante (Piano Sonata No. 1 in C, K.279)
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Mitsuko Uchida
Courtesy of Decca Music Group Ltd.
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises See more »
This is a cold war thriller about a Russian of privilege being manipulated by the Russian state appatchiks to violate themselves and those around them. Deployed to fight the American enemy the beautiful and downright ideal Russian woman rolls up her sleeves to fight for herself above the enemy and so-called friend.
In a world dominated by Star Wars 7 and 8, the eighteenth Marvel film and sixteenth DC comic film this film stands out. Although on its own merits there is quite a lot to see... unless you prefer to watch yet another JJ Abrams sequel or something.
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This is a cold war thriller about a Russian of privilege being manipulated by the Russian state appatchiks to violate themselves and those around them. Deployed to fight the American enemy the beautiful and downright ideal Russian woman rolls up her sleeves to fight for herself above the enemy and so-called friend.
In a world dominated by Star Wars 7 and 8, the eighteenth Marvel film and sixteenth DC comic film this film stands out. Although on its own merits there is quite a lot to see... unless you prefer to watch yet another JJ Abrams sequel or something.