Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critics What's this?

User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 7 Ratings

  • Summary: In 1981, Colonel Grigoriev of the KGB (real name - Vladimir Vetrov), disenchanted with what the Communist ideal has become under Brezhnev, decides he is going to change the world. Discreetly, he makes contact with a French engineer working for Thomson in Moscow and little by little passes on documents to him - mainly concerning the United States - containing information which would constitute the most important Cold War espionage operation known to date. (NeoClassics Film) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 25
  2. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. 100
    The movie is stunningly intelligent; the concluding passages, in which the game abruptly ends for both men, are frightening and, finally, very moving.
  2. Director Christian Carion (Merry Christmas) establishes a low-key yet threatening atmosphere right from the start, and gets terrific performances from Kusturica and Canet.
  3. 80
    Farewell, a cold war drama by the French director Christian Carion, isn't just a movie set in 1981; in many ways it feels like a movie made in 1981.
  4. Their mundane meetings underscore how easily secrets are leaked, but unfortunately, scenes of meetings between Presidents Reagan (Fred Ward) and Mitterrand seem hollow and naive. Kusturica and Canet are strong, though, as is Willem Dafoe as an American intel officer.

See all 25 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. En voyant ce film, je pense que certains buteront aussitôt sur la lenteur de ce film, impression causée notamment pas un manque flagrant de mise en scène marquante. De plus, il est étonnant de voir un quelconque humour qui semble s'être infiltré dans les passages politiques (séquences avec les présidents américain et français). Mais malgré cela, L'Affaire Farewell reste un bon film. D'une part grâce à son casting, de bonne facture (surtout de la part d'Emir Kusturica), à son scénario qui s'intéresse bien plus au parallèle entre les actions de ces deux hommes et de leur vie de famille, et à sa bande-son, qui apporte beaucoup de puissance à certaines scènes alors que les musiques sont pourtant calmes et douces. Bref, L'Affaire Farewell est l'un de ces films qui se laissent regarder avec beaucoup de plaisir. Expand

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