Farewell (L'affaire Farewell) (2009)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 74
Fresh: 63 | Rotten: 11
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 21
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 4,706
My Rating
Movie Info
An espionage agent begins working against his own country for the good of the world in this drama based on a true story. Sergei Grigoriev (Emir Kusturica) is a Soviet intelligence operative who has become deeply disillusioned with life under Communism -- while he believes in the ideals the U.S.S.R. was founded upon, he feels they have been become hopelessly compromised by their current leadership, and that the old government must be brought down for the sake of future generations. With this in
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Cast
-
Emir Kusturica
Grigoriev -
Guillaume Canet
Pierre -
Alexandra Maria Lara
Jessica -
Ingeborga Dapkunaite
Natasha -
Oleksii Gorbunov
Choukov -
Dina Korzun
Alina -
Philippe Magnan
Mitterrand -
Niels Arestrup
Vallier -
Fred Ward
Ronald Reagan -
David Soul
Hutton -
Willem Dafoe
Feeney -
Evgeny Kharlanov
Igor -
Valentin Varetsky
Anatoly
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All Critics (75) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (63) | Rotten (11)
Well-acted but plodding...
Top CriticThe movie earns its tension and suspense the old-fashioned way: By making you care about its characters, who live in a recognizably real world...
A smart and suspenseful thriller, but one that's grounded in the reality of the world we all live in -- whether we're spies or engineers.
Carion might have found a more artful way to dramatize the case's geopolitical impact, but this is still pretty interesting stuff.
This cool, understated French thriller might just become one of the best film-based excuses to escape the swelter of summer.
The film, based on a true story, is an uneasy mix of generic spy thriller and tensions-at-home family drama, but it's definitely entertaining...
Keeping the story focused on the personal sacrifices of the two men involved [is] a smart strategy because it makes their secret correspondence even more fraught with danger.
Carion's film admirably resists overselling the material: it's an adult espionage film, with no comic-book theatrics. [Blu-ray]
Directed by Christian Caron, Farewell is full of great cinematic moments...
This witty and gripping thriller is really worth a look.
... a history lesson that's occasionally monotone, but has moments of narrative depth and color.
Fascinating little-known spy story.
An intriguingly low-key Cold War thriller.
It is a richly intriguing tale about high intrigue, though at times a trifle uncertain...
The story of friendship and sacrifice is told in an unfussy, old-fashioned manner but director Christian Carion creates some tense moments and secures game performances...
This is a satisfyingly sober thriller, almost melancholy in tone - and as morally complex as a John Le Carré novel.
It's a compelling story of how one disillusioned idealist helped change the world - and all for a Sony Walkman and some Queen cassettes!
The tale of a truly fascinating but little-known espionage operation is told with panache and a dynamic central pairing.
Makes for a more original thriller than most, with the saving graces of irony and humour.
Impressively directed and superbly written, this is a fascinating and gripping story that packs a powerful emotional punch, thanks to a pair of terrific central performances from Guillaume Canet and Emir Kusturica.
A French thriller based on fact...
Slightly underpowered as an espionage thriller, this is nonetheless a fascinating story told with real panache.
Carion delivers a tight, tense and tragic package of the personal and political entwined, with Kusturica's huge presence at its soul.
It loiters somewhere within the void of movie limbo, destined to be lost amongst all the other films where an interesting idea failed to translate onto the big screen.
Audience Reviews for Farewell (L'affaire Farewell)
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July 23, 2010:
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Foreign Titles
- L'affaire farewell (FR)
- El caso Farewell (ES)
The story is somewhat convoluted, a fact that makes it even more revealing of the nature of espionage work at the time. Sergei Gregoriev (Emir Kusturica) passes secret documents to French spy Pierre Froment (Guillaume Canet) living in Moscow with his wife (Alexandra Maria Lara), documents so important that Froment must take extraordinary risks to pass them to the US Government. In the US President Reagan (Fred Ward) must balance the importance of these documents with the balance of relationships with the French government under François Mitterrand (Philippe Magnan) it is a tense struggle for power and at the crux of it is Froment and the ultimately captured Gregoriev who is tortured to reveal his French espionage contact. The rush to finish at the end of the film is breathtaking and heartbreaking. There is a conversation between Froment and the US Feeney (Willem Dafoe) that places the soul of the Cold War years in perspective.
Every aspect of this film is involving - the acting is first rate from everyone involved, the pacing is in the fashion edge of the seat direction, and the sharing of the innermost secrets of espionage is information we all should study. A reenactment of the Reagan/Gorbachev era as well defined as any film has dared to show us. Not only is this excellent filmmaking, but it is also information about a man's (Sergei Gregoriev) sacrifice that deserve honor. 4 1/2 stars 3-10-13