David O'ConnellFarewell
June 28th 2010 06:06
From out of the graves of Cold War Russia comes Christian Carion’s Farewell, a dour drama which reveals the courage of two men willing to risk their lives in an effort to bring down the Iron Curtain. Sergei Gregoriev (Emir Kusturica) is a renegade KGB agent who, disillusioned by his country’s noble but misguided Communmist directives, has decided to re-direct the flow of top secret files into the arms of a French engineer, Pierre Froment (Guillaume Canet), stationed in Moscow who in turn can pass them onto the West. Froment is a nondescript worker, of no particular interest to any intelligence body and thus beneath suspicion. Still, the operation is a risky one fraught with treacherous ramifications should they be discovered.
The family lives of both men are pushed to the breaking point. Froment’s wife laments the burden of unnecessary complications against the backdrop of a volatile environment already poisoned with indefinably dangerous variables. Gregoriev’s relationship with his teenage son is strained; attempting to heal the rift with gifts from the western world, procured via Froment’s quick trips back to France, proves mostly futile. Similarly his ongoing affair with a clandestine mistress endangers his stalling marriage. Both lead double lives of a sort, though the more passive Froment actively denies a continuation of his meetings with Gregoriev, exacerbating his deceit.
For these men, weighing up the political dimensions is of minimal importance. It’s moral servitude that stings Gregoriev - codenamed "Farewell" - into action and his ability to win Froment over with subtle implorations of the magnitude of what their actions entail that keeps their course steady - even as the cross-cutting motivations of the shadowy figures in the background shift focus.
When the cards these men have deftly arranged come falling down, who will be the first to crack? Naturally there are crucial revelations to come as the skein of lies and half-truths unravels, mostly without their knowledge, until it's very late in the game.
Froment (Guillaume Canet) and Gregoriev (Emir Kusturica)
Carion’s casting of the leads is spot-on, especially his choice of acclaimed Serbian director Kusturica as the dogmatic Gregoriev, a man compelled to act, to set in motion a change he feels is descending as inevitably as rain from a toxic black cloud. Kusterica, best known for Underground (1995) and Black Cat, White Cat (1998), possesses the perfect physical dimensions and attributes to slot into this role with ease. His Gregoriev cuts a jaundiced, battle-fatigued figure of pragmatism and humanity. He’s an easy sell in that we immediately empathise with him, even accepting his embellishment of a French poem - a little too-obvious as a metaphor of where the story is headed – with a grain of salt.
Canet, who has also become a capable director as he proved with the excellent Mon idole (2002) and the international hit Tell No One (2006), exemplifies the low-key, restrained approach to potentially explosive matters that distinguishes Carion's worthy follow-up to the wartime Christmas drama Joyeux Noel (2005).
With a nod to history, the director also interweaves little snapshots of the negotiations between the other two participating nations led by French President Francois Mitterrand (Philippe Magnan) and American President Ronald Reagan (Fred Ward). These scenes condemn the actors to brave, but underwhelming caricatures, lessening the impact, and diverting us away from the central thread of the film - the place which sees its most intriguing elements rise to the surface. Willem Dafoe also turns up in an equally thankless role as a top-ranking C.I.A. agent.
Farewell (2009) is solid in most other departments, from it’s recreation of drab and wintry 80’s style and décor to the moody insinuations of Clint Mansell’s fine score. Though this political drama is attached to the ghosts of history - always a compelling force - the absence of any real tension hurts its overall impact. There may be nothing distractingly out-of-kilter with Carion’s structure, but neither is there anything overpowering or riveting about the film. The story is an interesting one told with skill and restraint, but dramatically Farewell is a slow-burn, never scaling any incendiary heights. Recommended but with reservations.
A trailer is here.
FAREWELL is released in Australian cinemas from this Thursday July 1.
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Great review!
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