A Brilliant Though Densely Dark Film: A Study of the Cold War
10/10
Author: gradyharp from United States
20 April 2011

Serguei Kostine's book 'Bonjour Farewell' serves as the source of the historical moments of one of the most important fractures in the Cold War in 1981 - the act of valor of Sergei Gregoriev - and the script for this very important and controversial film was written by Eric Reynaud and Christian Carion who also directed this stunning film (he is best remembered for his brilliant 'Joyeux Noël' which incidentally starred many of the actors in this film).

It is a disturbing movie to watch, a film that was condemned by the Russian government, disallowing filming in Moscow - except for some undercover camera work for an apparent Coca-Cola commercial, and refusing to allow Russian actors to take part in the project. It reveals the brutality of the Communist regime of the time, a period Russia would prefer to remain occult.

The story is somewhat convoluted, a fact that makes it even more revealing of the nature of espionage work at the time. Sergei Gregoriev (Emir Kusturica) passes secret documents to French spy Pierre Froment (Guillaume Canet) living in Moscow with his wife (Alexandra Maria Lara), documents so important that Froment must take extraordinary risks to pass them to the US Government.

In the US President Reagan (Fred Ward) must balance the importance of these documents with the balance of relationships with the French government under François Mitterrand (Philippe Magnan) it is a tense struggle for power and at the crux of it is Froment and the ultimately captured Gregoriev who is tortured to reveal his French espionage contact. The rush to finish at the end of

the film is breathtaking and heartbreaking. There is a conversation between Froment and the US Feeney (Willem Dafoe) that places the soul of the Cold War years in perspective. Every aspect of this film is involving - the acting is first rate from everyone involved, the pacing is in the fashion edge of the seat direction, and the sharing of the innermost secrets of espionage is information we all should study.

A reenactment of the Reagan/Gorbachev era as well defined as any film has dared to show us. Not only is this excellent filmmaking, but it is also information about a man's (Sergei Gregoriev) sacrifice that deserve honor.

Grady Harp

Official Sites

• Official site

Miscellaneous Sites

• Aller au cinema (French)
• Cine.gr (Greek)
• Cinedor Estrenos (Spanish)
• Cinematic Intelligence Agency
• CINeol (Spanish)
• cineyteatro.es - Info, synopsis, commentary, awards, photos [Beatrice Sartori] (Spanish)
• Estrenos de Cine (Spanish)
• IMCDb.org: cars, bikes, trucks and other vehicles seen in this production
• Indiemoviez (Spanish)
• LaButaca.net (Spanish)
• Monsters and Critics
• MovieClock.com - Trailer, showtimes, user reviews
• Movieplayer.it - News and Info, Pics, Trailers (Italian)
• movies.ch (German, French, Italian)
• myFILM.gr (Greek)
• SensaCine.com (Spanish)
• Soundtrack.Net
• SoundtrackCollector - Soundtrack information
• Spielfilm.de - Filminfo (German)
• Stopklatka.pl (Polish)
• Virgin Media Movies
• Wikipedia
• Wikipedia (French)
• Zelluloid.de (German)
• zoom-Cinema.fr (French)

Photographs

• cineImage - Swiss movie press archive
• CinEmotions.com - photos gallery
• Ecranlarge.com - Photo Gallery
• elFilm.com - Image Gallery
• Film.Com.Tr - Synopsis and Pictures (Turkish)
• MovieStillsDB.com - Photo Gallery
• myFILM.gr Photo Gallery
• OutNow! Image Gallery
• zoom-Cinema.fr - Photo Gallery
• Cinemotions.com - french poster
• elFilm.com - Posters
• myFILM.gr Posters

Brilliant
10/10
Author: sergepesic from Minneapolis, USA
11 June 2012

What a brilliant movie. Spies, lies,twisted mind games. No explosions, no bullets, no exciting background music, no old hat tricks. Inspite of that, or better, because of that, tense, suspenseful and original movie. Real spies are not superheroes, flying through the air, ducking hundreds of bullets, overpowering dozens of villains with their martial arts skills unparalleled in the universe. Most of the time they happen to be, timid or coerced or dedicated to a cause.

Their job is not glamorous, they scurry like rats in a dark alley, they sweat and smell some times they live, most of the time they die.Finally the real spy movie, deep and harsh, leaving the sickening feeling. As usual the decent, courageous people get shoved aside or get killed for a higher cause- saving some ambitious creep's ass.

A Mind-Boggling True Story!
10/10
Author: liberalgems from Baltimore, Maryland
5 September 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 II. That's 1 in 3 people that died in all of World War II 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!

(oui oh!...les générations futures sont bien trop occupées à regarder le foot,les films de cul,à chatter ou à jouer avec leur consoles à la con...)

Farewell
10/10
Author: cultfilmfan from Canada
18 November 2010

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. It  takes place in the early 80'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.