Espion(s) (2009)
Directed by Nicolas Saada

Film Review

Nicolas Saada is the latest in a long line of prominent critics on the influential film review journal Les Cahiers du cinéma to try his hand at filmmaking.  In his first feature, a stylish melange of spy thriller and romantic drama, Saada shows great promise, both as a director and screenwriter, and delivers one of the most seductive examples of French film noir in several years.  Admittedly the plot is little more than a sly reworking of the Hitchcock classic Notorious, but Saada's slick and imaginative mise-en-scène prevents this from being a slavish imitation of a well-known work.  Au contraire, Espion(s) is as fresh and vibrant a piece of cinema as you can reasonably expect from a debutant film director.

A hirsuite Guillaume Canet heads an impressive cast which includes the stunning Géraldine Pailhas (memorably present in François Ozon's 5x2 2004) and some notable British performers, Vincent Regan and Stephen Rea.  Here Canet is suitably cast as the ordinary, slightly wimpish, young man who reluctantly becomes a secret agent, and in doing so undergoes a profound character transformation.   The role presumably suited Canet so well that he played it again in his next film, L'Affaire Farewell (2009).  Whilst the film's focus is the romantic liaison between Canet and Pailhas, there is more interest value to be found elsewhere, particularly in the supporting contributions of Stephen Rea and Hippolyte Girardot, who make an amusing contrast as spymasters on the two sides of the Anglo-French divide.

Towards the end, the film does start to run out of steam and its main failing is the lack of a punchy denouement to wrap things up.  It is a shame that the spy intrigue, so deftly handled in the first half of the film, has to play second fiddle to the romantic plot in the second half, since Saada appears to be more enthused by the thriller side of the equation.  The director's take on the murky world of espionage and terrorism owes more to the novels of John Le Carré than to the James Bond movies, far more realistic and chilling than is customary for films of this genre.  Whilst it may not be entirely satisfying, Espion(s) is still an elegantly crafted thriller, one that plays on modern day fears to great effect and offers an intensely sombre study in manipulation and deceit.  The film was nominated for the Best First Film César in 2010 but lost out to Riad Sattouf's Les Beaux gosses (2009).

Film Synopsis

With his qualifications, Vincent could easily get himself a well-paid job with a respectable firm, but instead he prefers to work as an airport baggage handler.  With his colleague Gérard, he makes a habit of opening the suitcases and bags in his charge, stealing whatever takes his interest.  It proves to be a very dangerous profession.  One day, Gérard is killed when a bomb concealed in a perfume bottle explodes.   The bag's owner, a Syrian diplomat, hastily retrieves the case before promptly disappearing in the confusion.  Before he knows it, Vincent is whisked away and taken to the French security services, who make him an offer he cannot refuse.

To avoid going to prison for theft, Vincent must agree to take part in a mission to find the individuals responsible for the explosion.  Under an assumed name, he arrives in London with instructions to inveigle his way into the company of Peter Burton, an English businessman who is thought to be in the pay of the Syrian secret service.  To this end, the reluctant spy must seduce Burton's French wife, Claire.  The latter's emotional fragility makes it easy for Vincent to gain her confidence and she is soon assisting her French lover in working for MI5.  The mission takes an unexpected turn when Vincent realises he is falling in love...