L'affaire Farewell (2009)

Director:

Christian Carion

Writers:

Christian Carion (writer)
Eric Raynaud (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

23 September 2009 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Secrets have the power to change the course of history.

Plot:

The French intelligence service alerts the U.S. about a Soviet spy operation during the height of the Cold War, which sets off an unfortunate chain of events.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | French | France | Cold War | Double Agent

Cast

Diane Kruger	...	Femme jogging
Willem Dafoe	...	Feeney
Guillaume Canet	...	Pierre Froment
Alexandra Maria Lara	...	Jessica Froment
Fred Ward	...	Ronald Reagan
Emir Kusturica	...	Sergei Gregoriev
David Soul	...	Hutton
Niels Arestrup	...	Vallier
Benno Fürmann
Gary Lewis
Ingeborga Dapkunaite	...	Natasha
Dina Korzun	...	Alina
Philippe Magnan	...	François Mitterrand
Aleksey Gorbunov	...	Choukhov (as Oleksii Gorbunov)
Alex Ferns	...	Agent écossais 1
David Clark	...	Secret Service Agent
Joonas Makkonen	...	Finnish border guard
Anton Yakovlev	...	Agent de sécurité du KGB
Mats Långbacka	...	FBI Agent
Miglen Mirtchev	...	KGB Agent
Claes Olsson	...	Douanier finlandais
Malou Beauvoir	...	Conseillère de Reagan
Thomas Schmauser	...	Ingénieur allemand
Eddie Crew	...	Homme Maison Blanche
Christian Sandström	...	FBI agent
Susan Moncur	...	Madame Hutton
Marc Berman	...	Jacques
Andrei Tsumak	...	Milicien frontière
Tony Vanaria	...	Interprète américain
Evgeniy Kharlanov	...	Igor (as Evgenie Kharlanov)
Viktor Drevitski	...	Milicien alcoolisé
Philippe Canet	...	Pére de Pierre
Jevgeni Haukka	...	Capitaine milice résidence
Tero Saikkonen	...	Russian soldier
Vsevolod Shilovsky	...	Gorbachev
Valentin Varetskiy	...	Anatoly (as Valentin Varetsky)
Ovellana Kuzmina	...	Femme passage
Michal Bilalov	...	Homme 2
Vladimir Tolsky	...	Chef du KGB
Igor Panich	...	Traducteur russe
Mickey Dedaj	...	Réceptionniste
Riko Eklundh	...	Agent FBI 1
Lauriane Riquet	...	Ophélie
Paul Duberpet	...	Igor 3 ans
Ruslan Guei	...	Milicien résidence
Andrey Diminski	...	Milicien passage 3
Igor Mozorov	...	Milicien passage 1
Laure Irmann	...	Interprète Français
Kari Rakkola	...	Agent fédéral allemand 2
Pierre-Alexis Kabakhidze	...	Chef de cabinet
Christian Alsiev	...	Homme de la CIA base OTAN
Bogdan Doroschenko	...	Milicien passage 2
Irina Augshkap	...	Olga
Alexey Vasiltchenko	...	Douanier russe
Jussi Ziegler	...	Policier allemand
Johanna Humblat	...	Fil de feriste
Vladimir Ousev	...	Agent KGB passage
Konstantin Olvekhov	...	Vendeur de journaux
Timothé Riquet	...	Damien
Grigori Honovkov	...	Homme 1
Gergiy Holosko	...	Représentant russe
Christian Carton
Maksim Pinsker	...	Milicien parc 1
Heikki Kivijärvi	...	Russian Soldier (uncredited)

Directed by
Christian Carion

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Christian Carion		writer
Serguei Kostine		book "Bonjour Farewell"
Eric Raynaud		written by

Produced by
Philippe Boeffard	....	producer
Bertrand Faivre	....	producer
Stéphane Riga	....	line producer
Christophe Rossignon	....	producer

Original Music by
Clint Mansell

Cinematography by
Walther van den Ende

Film Editing by
Andrea Sedlácková

Casting by
Gigi Akoka

Production Design by
Jean-Michel Simonet

Set Decoration by
Sébastien Monteux-Halleur

Costume Design by
Corinne Jorry

Makeup Department
Mabi Anzalone	....	key makeup artist
Frédéric Balmer	....	assistant makeup artist
Katya Boksha	....	assistant makeup artist
Dominique Colladant	....	special makeup effects artist
Fabrice Herbet	....	special makeup effects artist
Gérald Portenart	....	key hair stylist
Olivier Seyfrid	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Julien Azoulay	....	post-production supervisor
Grégory Bernard	....	additional unit manager
Thierry Cretagne	....	unit manager
Eric Duriez	....	post-production manager
Guillaume Hanoun	....	assistant production manager
Nicolas Ploux	....	assistant unit manager
Charles Tharaux	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Christian Alzieu	....	second assistant director
Daniel Kuitunen	....	third assistant director
Iris Olsson	....	assistant director
Alice Pic	....	third assistant director
Dennis Sonin	....	first assistant director
Thierry Verrier	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Pauline Berger	....	sculptor
Lionel Brison	....	painter: patina
Hessu Tönkyrä	....	carpenter
Guillaume Watrinet	....	property master

Sound Department
Philippe Amouroux	....	foley recordist
Yohann Bernard	....	dialogue editor
Guillaume D'Ham	....	sound editor
Jean De Sagey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Thomas Desjonquères	....	supervising sound editor
Jeremy Emery	....	sound trainee
Florent Lavallée	....	sound re-recording mixer
Stephane Lioret	....	boom operator
Pierre Mertens	....	sound recordist
Maxime Saleix	....	sound mix technician

Visual Effects by
Fabien Coupez	....	flame compositor
Vincent Frei	....	end titles
Sebastien Gombeaud-Saintonge	....	Flame artist: Mac Guff Ligne Paris
Aurélien Grand	....	retouch and restoration
Romain Leclerc	....	flame artist
Gaston Marcotti	....	digital artist
Stephanie Saillard	....	digital compositor: Mac Guff
Patrick Siboni	....	flame artist
Martial Vallanchon	....	visual effects supervisor

Stunts
Daniel Vérité	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Victor Abadia	....	electrician
Loïc Andrieu	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Loïc Andrieu	....	steadicam operator
Drigeard Antonin	....	electrician
Lucie Colombie	....	second assistant camera
Jean-François Drigeard	....	rigger gaffer
Koen Firlefijn	....	key grip
Didier Frateur	....	first assistant camera
Valentyn Gryb	....	video assist
Cyril Lebre	....	assistant camera: second unit
Jean-Claude Lother	....	still photographer
Amandine Mahieu	....	electrician
Julien Pamart	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
James Swanson	....	aerial cinematographer
Kris Theuwis	....	key grip
Jan Wachowsky	....	video assist

Casting Department
Geneviève Acien	....	casting assistant
Catherine Deserbais	....	extras casting
Susie Figgis	....	casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Caroline Condat	....	wardrobe
Alison Forbes-Meyler	....	costumes

Editorial Department
Christophe Lucotte	....	color timer

Music Department
Jean-Pierre Arquie	....	music supervisor
Matt Dunkley	....	conductor
Geoff Foster	....	score engineer & mixer
Bruce Fowler	....	orchestrator
Isobel Griffiths	....	orchestra contractor
Marie Sabbah	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Lydia Bigard	....	script supervisor
Alexandre Chalanset	....	production assistant
Valérie Dompnier	....	production assistant
Michèle Massé	....	location scout
Luc Poullain	....	aerial coordinator
Ludivine Rossignon	....	assistant accountant
Julien Sabourdin	....	production accountant
Christophe Vandenborre	....	production assistant
Julie Adams	....	dialect coach (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Nord-Ouest Productions (presents)
• Le Bureau (presents)
• Pathé (co-production)
• Canal+ (co-production)
• France 2 Cinéma (co-production)
• CinéCinéma (co-production)
• Région Ile-de-France (support)
• Une Hirondelle Productions (co-production)
• Cofinova 5 (in association with)
• France 2 (FR2) (participation)
• Blackfeet Pictures (co-production)

Distributors

• Pathé (2009) (France) (theatrical)
• AQS (2010) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• AQS (2010) (Slovakia) (theatrical)
• Europa Filmes (2010) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Hopscotch Films (2010) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Longride (2010) (Japan) (theatrical)
• NeoClassics Films (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Feelgood Entertainment (2010) (Greece) (DVD)
• Fox Pathé Europa (2010) (France) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Seven Films (2010) (Greece) (all media)
• Teleview International (2008) (Lebanon) (all media) (Middle East)
• Valentim de Carvalho Multimédia (2010) (Portugal) (all media)

Special Effects

• Duran Duboi
• Mac Guff Ligne (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Aerial Camera Systems  helicopter gyrostabilized camera system
• Air Lyndhurst Studios  music recorded at
• Digital Post Services  Blu-ray/SD-DVD authoring and production services
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Film Music Services  music supervision
• London Session Orchestra, The  orchestra (uncredited)
• Music Package  music supervision

Also Known As:

"Farewell" - International (English title)
"Az utolsó kém" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"El caso Farewell" - Spain (imdb display title)
"Elveda" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"Fakelos Farewell" - Greece (festival title)
"O Caso Farewell" - Portugal (imdb display title)
"Ypothesi Farewell" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)

Runtime:

France:113 min | USA:113 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Japan:G | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:M | Ireland:12A

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

Nord-Ouest Productions

Trivia:

Alexander Avdeev (Russian ambassador in France who became Russian Culture Minister and who had been expelled from France in 1983 because of Farewell) blocked most Russian actors to play in this movie, including Sergey Makovetskiy and Nikita Mikhalkov, because he did not want to back a movie about a Russian traitor. He also blocked authorizations to film in Moscow, while most of the plot takes place in Moscow. Christian Carion had to pretend to film a Coca Cola advertisement for the few images of the city.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In a scene identified as taking place in April 1981, Grigoriev's son listens to the Queen/David Bowie song "Under Pressure." The song was not recorded until July 1981, released in October 1981.

Movie Connections:

Featured in En bonne intelligence (2010)

Soundtrack:

Paname

Taut and well made spy period thriller; a mood piece negotiating a large web of complications in an astute fashion.

Farewell is the wrought piece of espionage spy fiction you didn't really expect to be as good as it is; as is often the case, films and film-makers take it upon themselves to entrust that elements of espionage and distrust between superpowers, or people therein epitomising superpowers, should make for crash-bang, explosive viewing involving very little narrative; very little character and a whole lot of wooden spectacle. It is with open arms then, that we welcome in Christian Carion's 2011 film Farewell; the anti-thesis to Mission Impossible: II or a badly drawn Bond film of the post-Dalton era. The film is one of its ilk that happens to have both a soul and a brain; these characters are people involved in international espionage and some rather dangerous stuff, but they are people involved in such things whilst doing their utmost to maintain families; they are people involved in what they're in, of whom enjoy playing tennis and reading poetry and listening to Queen – they are human beings; they can be overweight; they can wear glasses; they can relax by watching a Western, they are not stock action heroes of a ridiculously photogenic nature; they are not James Bonds darting around in sports cars out-peddling a space orientated laser beam.

The scene epitomising how Farewell really is different to most others of its ilk arrives with a snappy sequence set on a park bench between two people; as might be considered standard with any film of this ilk, we witness such a sequence that is often the first thing people think of when certain genre buzz words are mentioned. Here, the already seated man witnesses another slump down next to him so that they may continue their business – business which would result in serious ramifications should either of them be caught. Instead of cutting to the chase and prolonging causality, the new arrival first mutters about how he hates the fact he is having an affair with someone away from his marriage; that his son knows all about it and, he feels, hates him as a result. Such is the film's nature to take something familiar to the genre, or something with which we will identify, and spin it around to encompass character; to encompass problems away from what would usually be the sole and lone body of content; to take an instance as stereotypical as two blokes meeting on a park bench and incorporate some sort of air of both naturality and substance to proceedings.

The sense that we're being treated like adults begins with the opening sequence, a procession of found footage depicting numerous things Cold-war orientated ranging from shots taken from the fronts of the Vietnam War to numerous technological advancements of the 1970s alluding to the Space Race. All of it is Cold-War orientated and it arrives without voice-overs informing us of what's what and why we're seeing what we're seeing; there is no brief expositional history lesson. Guillaume Canet pays Pierre Froment, an engineer living in Russia with his family of wife and young daughter; the man observes a television set displaying a McEnroe-Borg tennis match, this sense of there being a fondness for that of duelling; a fondness of keeping up with how two super-powers in a respective field are getting along in their long, intense rivalry prominent.

The film is a double-stranded piece, a piece flicking between two men occupying Moscow in the early 1980s doing their utmost to transfer information from secretive sources onto the Americans, and that of the American president of the time in Ronald Reagan (Ward), no less, who dishes it out to his international colleagues, particularly that of then-French Socialist President François Mitterrand (Magnan), when he isn't confining with his own. Pierre's friend is Emir Kusturica's large, life-weary Soviet native to their surroundings Sergei Gregoriev; a man with his own wife and son with whom he does not get along. Sergei uses Pierre as a half-way house in his delivering of top-secret Soviet intelligence which eventually make their way through to the upper-echelons of The White House, a premise spun out by director Carion to really good effect as we delve into this world of lies and power-play.

In spite of the two strands and the array of characters, ranging from this lowly Frenchman to the President of the United States himself, it is Pierre's film; a man caught up in this mucky pool of grime and maltrust and having it go on to affect his home life and general well-being. In a subway fairly early on, it is established how efficient and how clinical the police state work; their picking up of an unknown woman after the insinuation Pierre is in trouble reiterates what he is up against - the verbal establishment beforehand of Pierre's inexperience within this field follows that of Sergei's infiltrating of the backseat to his car with enough ease to fool Pierre as to his even being there. In this regard, the tension is often palpable; if for the fact we often fear Pierre's capture, something that would not stop the film from carrying on with one of its other equilibriums but as to whether his actions will destroy his exemplary home situation and those he holds dear to him. Farewell is the spy thriller peering in at the private lives of these people; the primary stuff about passing on information and keeping informants secret acting as a mere premise to fascinating accounts of how these people exist with themselves; with their families and with one another, the bulk of it making for really good value – you could sure do worse for a thriller.