Film: Farewell | reviews, news & interviews
Film: Farewell
Film: Farewell
Cold War thriller with grip of iron
Saturday, 26 September 2009
The trailer for Farewell - released in Paris this week - was so dull I nearly didn't bother to go and see the film. The problem with selling Cold War thrillers to the masses is that realistic spy movies have little truck with trailer-friendly stunts, explosions and one-liners. But as any reader of Le Carré knows, the world of espionage is a world of smoke and mirrors, where no-one is who they appear to be, and where cynicism and expediency rub shoulders with slow-burning paranoia. In the right hands, these ingredients can have you on the edge of your seat, and fortunately for us, the hands of French writer-director Christian Carion are as safe as they come.
The trailer for Farewell - released in Paris this week - was so dull I nearly didn't bother to go and see the film. The problem with selling Cold War thrillers to the masses is that realistic spy movies have little truck with trailer-friendly stunts, explosions and one-liners. But as any reader of Le Carré knows, the world of espionage is a world of smoke and mirrors, where no-one is who they appear to be, and where cynicism and expediency rub shoulders with slow-burning paranoia. In the right hands, these ingredients can have you on the edge of your seat, and fortunately for us, the hands of French writer-director Christian Carion are as safe as they come.
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Film
Bring Them Down review - ramming it home in the west of Ireland
Directorial debut features strong performances and too much violence
September 5 review - gripping real-life thriller
The ground-breaking, if flawed media coverage of the 1972 Munich massacre
Blu-ray: Stray Dog
Kurosawa's post-war Tokyo noir gleans societal guilt as a cop hunts his purloined pistol
Hard Truths review - a bravura, hyperreal performance from Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Grudges and gloom offset by love and support make for an unsettling mix
Saturday Night review - a dizzying 90-minute trip to a landmark TV event
Jason Reitman captures the full chaos of SNL's 1975 launch
By the Stream review - enigmatic Korean drama
Hong Sang-soo's 32nd feature: Seoul campus life and love with plenty of booze
Flight Risk review - the sky's the limit for Michelle Dockery and Mark Wahlberg
Mel Gibson's airborne thriller is fast and furious
Presence review - Soderbergh's haunted camera
A ghost story from the ghost's point of view eavesdrops on a fractured family
The Brutalist review - we're building to something
An epic of American dreaming that baffles and mesmerises
William Tell review - stirring action adventure with silly dialogue
The Swiss folk hero gets an epic update
Blu-ray: Mikey and Nicky
Elaine May's edgy 1976 crime drama deglamorises the gangster archetype
David Lynch: In Dreams (1946-2025)
The director, who has died aged 78, rewired cinema with nightmare logic, an underground ethos and weird, wondrous innocence
Add comment