An intricate thriller about an ordinary man thrust into the biggest theft of Soviet information of the Cold War. Right after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A French businessman based in Moscow, Pierre Froment, makes an unlikely connection with Grigoriev, a senior KGB officer disenchanted with what the Communist ideal has become under Brezhnev. Grigoriev begins passing Froment highly sensitive information about the Soviet spy network in the US.
Acting
Kusturica's world-weary eyes say everything dialogue won't.
Production
Ukraine standing in for 1981 Moscow — gorgeously grim.
Writing
Based on real 'Farewell Dossier' — truth stranger than fiction.
Director
Christian Carion
Guillaume Canet
Pierre Froment
Emir Kusturica
Sergei Grigoriev
Alexandra Maria Lara
Jessica Froment
Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė
Natasha
Dina Korzun
Alina
Evgeniy Kharlanov
Igor
Niels Arestrup
Vallier
Willem Dafoe
Feeney
Fred Ward
Ronald Reagan
Philippe Magnan
François Mitterrand
David Soul
Hutton
Diane Kruger
Jogging spy
Christian Carion
Mitterrand advisor
Gary Lewis
Scottish chemist
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real 'Farewell' was Vladimir Vetrov, a KGB colonel whose 1981-82 leaks exposed 250 Soviet assets in the West.
The film's release was blocked in Russia until 2020 — the Kremlin still considers Vetrov a traitor, not a whistleblower.
FR
