Farewell (2009)

the audience applauded

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's 1981 in Moscow. Pierre Froment (Guillaume Canet) is low level French diplomat who meets Soviet colonel Sergei Gregoriev (Emir Kusturica). Sergei is dismissive of the young diplomat at first. He has a rebellious son at home. He wants to change the world, change the USSR, and sees himself as a patriot. He has an affair with a colleague. Mitterrand keeps the information closely guarded using the information as currency with American president Reagan. Sergei is given the code name 'Farewell'.Based on a book, this has the sound of truth and that's what so compelling. It's not a Bond movie or even a gritty convoluted spy thriller. The meetings are so mundane and so easy. It's not a movie high in tension except for the ending. This is a spy movie with the feel of the real world. It's about a flawed human being but he's never inhuman. There are many changes to the real story. All I know is that it has a sense of the real world.

"Keep your money."This is the story of how the Soviet Union lost the game. It is a story based - loosely - on the real story of the man who gave the French enough information to trigger the end of the Cold War.The movie is categorized as a thriller, but it is no ordinary one. It has a good story, a good script, an excellent director and a great cast. The music is moving and the cinematography is beautiful.This is a movie that makes art for art's sake and nothing more. A movie only the Europeans could make. There is no commercial pressure, there is no need to add anything to the plot, or to make the story anything more (or less) than it is. It is the story of the man who wanted to change the world, and who succeeded.The director does a terrific job. The camera walks, runs, flies high and low, in search of the perfect angle, the story moves easily from one point to the next and the attention to detail is overwhelming. There are moments when the action stops and only the camera moves. Combined with a brilliant sound track, the result is a masterpiece.The actors are perfectly selected. Emir Kusturica is the bohemian KGB officer, a role that fits his bearish physique like a glove. Guillaume Canet is the unlikely counterpart and he does a brilliant job. Both man are also accomplished film directors in their own right, and I don't think I've ever seen a movie with main characters like these. They have a special, natural and effortless connection with the camera and with each other, and the film benefits tremendously. The women are there only to make their life difficult and to show how they each deal with their "domestic" problems and weaknesses. But if their roles are small, they do an excellent job.In other roles, there is a cast of who's who of Hollywood. If they would give awards for best supporting cast, this movie would take the cake. Fred Ward is Ronald Reagan, the boss of the United States, Willen Defoe is the boss of the CIA, David Soul has a tiny role and Diane Kruger has a very recognizable cameo appearance.The music is moving, when it is meant to be moving, and simply noise, when it is meant to be nothing else.If there is one flaw that I found, is that the movie repeats itself too much. There are several great ideas and scenes, but they tend to be repeated a lot. Even the greatest idea is a masterpiece only once. The second time it is not so great and the third time it is just... boring. The movie could have been shorter and it could have left some things to the viewer's imagination.There is also the choice of language. There is French, there is Russian and there is English. While the use of all three languages adds to the authenticity of the story, the constant and relentless switching between them gets tiresome, sooner or later. And since the copy I had had no subtitles, some of the Russian dialog remained a mystery. Thank God! there were no Chinese or Japanese involved.Farewell. A great movie, even if a little self-indulgent. 8/10.

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.

This is a very empowering, true-story about one man, Sergei Gregoriev, who probably did more to bring down the Communist government in Russia - and end the cold war - than any other person who ever lived! This man should be honored by a postage stamp in every Western country in the world and in every high school history textbook! What an incredibly brave human being!I gained a lot of insights from watching this amazing film. The Russians lost an estimated 26 million people during World War 2. That's 1 in 3 people that died in all of World War 2 did so within the borders of the Soviet Union! I can only imagine the trauma and paranoia that was inflicted on the survivors who later then came to power. It didn't help either that a monster was at the head of government (Stalin) from 1924 to 1953. And, you wonder why the Soviets had a such a mind-boggling intelligence apparatus established throughout the United States? Once this network of spies was dismantled, the Soviet leadership was blind! Out of fear they bankrupted themselves on military spending because they could no longer accurately assess what actual threats the United States posed to them!Sergei Gregoriev, knew how his government would react to such a threat and he sacrificed everything to make it happen. I don't think he would be happy with the gangster capitalism that took Communism's place. But at least there are no more brutal wars fought in desperately poor countries, which have cost millions of lives because of the Cold War! Future generations will thank you for your sacrifice, Sergei Gregoriev!