7/10
If this film, and the supporting evidence from more credible sources is to be believed, the end of the Cold War came about largely as a result of a Russian colonel who was fed up with the stagnation of his country, and a Frenchman who had no links with espionage.
It starts in 1981, when Grigoriev (Emir Kusturica) meets an engineer called Pierre Fremont (Guillaume Canet) and passes some documents to him. Fremont is doing a favour for his boss, who is attached to the French version of the FBI. The reason for this avenue of information is that the DST (as they are called) are the only intelligence branch not penetrated by Russian intelligence, and because Fremont has no known track record and is therefore above suspicion. Fremont has no desire to continue this particular relationship, but as is the way of these things, gets drawn in more deeply, half fascinated, half horrified.
Meanwhile President Mitterand is offering this highly secret and important information ( intelligence gold dust) to the Americans, and Reagan, despite his suspicion of the French because they have Communists in their government, is unwillingly impressed by what is revealed, as well as shocked by the level of information the Russians have. And so Grigoriev and Fremont sink deeper into the quicksand of mutual dependence, both of them unable to tell their wives what they are doing, and becoming attached to each other. No, not in that way.
The film works best as a political thriller, and as a portrait of an odd relationship between two men with no apparent common ground. This owes a great deal to the two leading actors, Canet and Kusturica, who film aficionados will recognise as leading film directors in their own right, but whose lack of film star background, and acting mannerisms stand them in good stead. When the two of them are on screen together, which is most of the time, then the film is in good shape. However, when we see the world leaders holding meetings, the plausibility level drops dramatically. Fred Ward does his best as Reagan, but never convinces for a moment. And while the posters draw attention to the presence of Willem Dafoe and Diane Kruger, he is on screen for approximately three minutes, while her screen time is about three seconds. Never trust posters.
There are times when the film reminded me of The Killing Fields, which is no bad thing, and the directing is in general unobtrusive and/or effective. The Moscow settings look terrific, and we have a really good sense of what life in Russia might have been like 30 years ago. As political thrillers go, it's one of the best I've seen in some time, certainly better than Fair Game, which failed to achieve this level of believability. It may not sound like the kind of film you fancy spending a couple of hours with, but it's among the best films around at the moment.
