Farewell (2009)

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

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.

It says something about film marketing that the makers of this nice little film felt it necessary to give featured billing to Willem Dafoe and Diane Kruger, who might be recognizable to American film goers but are certainly not the film's stars. Kruger appears on screen briefly, while Dafoe has a minor and totally unnecessary role. The real stars are Emir Kusturica as Gregoriev, a high ranking Russian intelligence agent who is determined to expose his country's spy network in an effort to bring down the Brezhnev regime, and Guilliaume Canet as a young French businessman serving as Gregoriev's unwilling courier. Credit must also go to Alexandra Maria Lara, the French businessman's beautiful young wife who fears for her family's safety and cannot get a truthful word out of her husband. Kusturica is excellent, Canet is competent and Lara is very good. This is "based on a true story," a phrase that always leaves me wondering where fact expires and invention begins. But it is very well done. The Russian is caught and the young French couple escape by driving from Moscow to the Finnish border in a snow storm. Of some interest are the actors playing Ronald Reagan, Francois Mitterrand and Gorbachev, each of whom figures prominently in the story. They're a pretty stiff bunch.

One night, Frenchman Pierre Froment, living in Moscow, attends his daughter's circus performance. He excuses himself for a moment to go to his car. As he sits in the driver's seat, he is surprised by an intruder with an interesting proposition. The messenger, Sergei Gregoriev, chooses the innocent looking Pierre because he had served a tour of duty in France. Sergei has fond memories of his time there.It is the beginning of the 1980s and Breznev is in control. Things have gotten so bad in the country, Sergei believes something is needed to bring change into his land. For that, he proposes an exchange of secret documents that Pierre will deliver to France to be passed on to the Americans. His reasoning is that by doing that something will result as the Soviets enemies will be outsmarted.France had just elected Francois Mitterand, a socialist to the highest office. He had all intentions of naming communists to the cabinet, something the Americans dreaded. As Mitterand is informed of Pierre's mission, he decides to cooperate with the United Nations. In doing so, he gets to discuss what is happening with Ronald Reagan himself, who is at first reluctant, until he realizes what a good thing has fallen in his lap.Sergei must do all kinds of secret maneuvers in order to copy the material for Pierre. He risks being exposed as a traitor with all the consequences that go with whatever punishment he gets. His situation at home is not exactly a happy one. He lives with his wife and a son that is going to the university, but who secretly loves everything Western, as most young people from his generation. In addition, he has his own secret life, a sordid affair with Natasha. His sacrifice for wanting to change the system will come to haunt his own life.Directed by Christian Carion, who gave us the wonderful "Joyeux Noel", the director keeps his excellent work taking thorny issues such as the one at heart in this film. The film surprises because it puts into context an unknown page of history as it celebrates the obscure protagonists that were instrumentals in what was the end of a totalitarian regime. The screenplay is based on a book written by Serguei Kostine with an adaptation by the director and Eric Reynaud.The film is totally dominated by Emir Kusturica, who is a notable director himself. His Sergei Gregoriev is one of the most compelling characters in recent memory. This was a selfish man that saw a nation in despair because of a rotten system. Taking things into his own hands, he foresaw what would become as a result of his actions. Guillaume Canet, also a film director who gave us the wonderful "Tell No One", makes an impression as Pierre Froment. The large international cast include some good actors. Fred Ward, Willem Dafoe, Philippe Magnan, the marvelous Nils Arestrup, Alexandra Maria Lara, among the supporting cast add to our enjoyment.The cinematography by Walther Van Den Ende as well as Clint Mansell's music score enhance the film. Director Christian Carion is a man to watch.

Farewell is a French film in French, English and Russian, but with English subtitles. The film is based on the book Bonjour Farewell by Serguei Kostine. The film takes place in the early 1980's and is about a Russian internal security officer named Sergei, who is fed up with the current communist government and decides to take Soviet documents and secret information to the government of France, under President Mitterrand, who himself is a socialist, but is working in coalition with the communists. Sergei hopes that by doing this he could bring about a change in the Soviet Union. Sergei realizes that he can not do it alone, so he gets the help of a French engineer named Pierre Froment, who is based out of Moscow, to help him with his mission. During the film both men will come under suspicion of family members and those around them and at times they even doubt each other, but Sergei is bound and determined to succeed with his mission. Before, I saw Farewell, I knew very little about it, but had seen and read some of the great reviews it had been receiving. It took me a little while to sort of get caught up with the characters and all the events that were going on during the film, but in the end I found myself loving the film. I am glad that I decided to go see Farewell, instead of skipping it altogether. I think the fact that it was about espionage worried me, because I really am not a fan of the usual James Bond type espionage and spy films. Farewell thankfully turned out to be something different. Instead of a lot of action, car chases and the usual high tech gimmicks and story lines that are pumped out in the American versions of these type of films (and I guess the British, seeing as they created James Bond), we are instead taken down a different route, where we are introduced to these two men and we really get to know the two of them well during the length of the film and we even start to care about them. We see them go about their daily lives with things going on at home and raising families, but these two also are passionate people and they are doing what they are doing for what they consider to be the best thing for them and their country and families. This film took a more personal approach by letting us get to know these two men and giving us good character development and sets a good pace for the film and also helps us to understand why they are doing what they are doing and the end results and choices they end up making. The dialogue between the characters is all very good here and the acting from the two leads and basically the whole cast is terrific. The film once you get to know what is going on, moves at a good pace and at times is thrilling and at other times we are in deep fascination to see what will happen in the character's personal lives as well as what will happen with the mission they are working on. As, I said we really do get to know these characters well with their heroic qualities and even their flaws and we still admire them both and get to care for them. Some of the best scenes of the film have nothing to do with the espionage mission at all, but instead seeing how they interact with their families and how they go about their daily lives. It may not be action packed, but it feels realistic and human and more believable this way. Farewell is a really captivating film with it's story which is brought to great justice by a great script, direction and performances. I also appreciated seeing a European view on the events and matters that take place during the film instead of a typical and perhaps biased American version. I could respect and see what they were trying to get across in this version of the story and I am glad they did not change anything to be more commercial, or to sell more tickets. Farewell is a terrific film and definitely one of the best of 2010.