Like Salt or Bourne given a character-study makeover, Christian Carion’s spy thriller spotlights a true story from 1981 that helped thaw the Cold War.
Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica plays Sergei, codename ‘Farewell’, a KGB agent slipping Soviet secrets to the West via his French contact (Guillaume Canet); their frayed family lives and friendship anchor the film.
Superpower sequences (Fred Ward as Ronald Reagan) feel crowded but Carion delivers a tight, tense and tragic package of the personal and political entwined, with Kusturica’s huge presence at its soul.
