Two French films arrive this week, and curiously enough both have their stories set in Russia as well as France: “The Concert” and “Farewell.”
Correction: “Farewell” is technically set in the Soviet Union. This one rolls out in the early 1980s, as the Cold War staggers along, with communism and capitalism throwing punches at each other like two exhausted boxers in the ring.
Loosely based on some real events, the film examines a longtime KGB operative, Sergei, who has decided to become a double agent for the West. A great lover of French culture, Sergei arranges to pass his documents to a French engineer, Pierre, currently posted in Moscow.
Pierre isn’t a spy; he’s simply been recruited by French espionage to be the middle man. The initially bumbling nature of his spywork gives the movie a nicely comic undertone, and even the arguments with his wife (Alexandra Maria Lara) seem to belong in a comedy about a henpecked husband.
The film does take more serious turns, and indeed attempts a global reach, as we see scenes that travel all the way to the White House. Ronald Reagan’s unwieldy “Star Wars” program is depicted as a crafty strategy to bluff the Soviets into giving up the nuke race; think of it as the “we’re crazier than you are” approach.
Reagan is played by Fred Ward, who seems to been enjoying himself in a role he doesn’t burlesque, whatever the temptations might have been.
The strength of the film stays with the men in Moscow. Both roles are played by accomplished film directors: Guillaume Canet, who did the thriller “Tell No One,” is the nerdy-looking Pierre, and the internationally renowned Emir Kusturica, who directed “Underground,” plays Sergei.
Kusturica, a looming fellow with a shaggy manner and a face that radiates a certain wry pessimism about life, really makes the film. He suggests how a true believer in the Soviet cause might also have a weakness for decadent western music and French champagne — a marvelous character right out of a John le Carre novel.
Director Christian Carion orchestrates “Farewell” as less a thriller than a chess match. It may not reach above the level of a good TV-movie, but the basic satisfactions of a spy picture are here, and Kusturica’s memorable presence clinches the deal.
“Farewell”
A spy game, based on fact, and mostly set in early-1980s Moscow, where a KGB operative (a marvelous character, well played by Emir Kusturica) begins slipping top-secret info to a French engineer (Guillaume Canet). It doesn’t really rise above the level of a good TV movie, but the basic pleasures of a spy picture are covered. In French and Russian, with English subtitles.
Rated: Not rated; probably PG-13 for subject matter.
Showing: Seven Gables.
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