La Maison Russie

The Russia House

I must confess, this is easily my favourite film. I have watched only a handful of films more than once. This film I have watched at least twenty times but by the time you read this it will be many more since I watch it at least every 6 weeks or so. I sit down with a bottle of genuine Russian vodka, a small tin of red caviar and some hard white bread, I turn up the dolby 5.1 and soak up the experience. Why is this film so good? Well for a start it is from a book by John LeCarre who must be our best living author. Who else researches a book so thoroughly? Every location has been checked, every character totally believable, with an intelligent plot.

Secondly the screenplay by Tom Stoppard is faultless. Having read the book first, I could not believe how faithfully Stoppard made his screenplay- chunks of LeCarre dialogue are faithfully copied. Then there is the acting. There are memorable performances from Sean Connery (Barley) and Michel Pfeiffer(Katya), the beautiful Russian heroine. Klaus Maria Brandauer wins my "best supporting actor" award as the totally believable Russian scientist. There are so many memorable lines of dialogue in this film. Brandauers line "If I will be a hero, will you act like a merely decent human being" always brings a lump to my throat. Barley's tongue in cheek replies to his CIA interrogators are wonderful. What gives this film such a feeling of authenticity are the locations which are all genuine Moscow and St Petersburg. Already Moscow has changed a lot since this film was made. The lovely old National hotel shown in the film has been demolished and replaced with a modern nonentity, so this film is rapidly becoming a piece of history. The buildings are changing but the same faceless KGB operators are still there. How can one flawed man fight the power of the spymasters. Barley shows how to do it. What a hero! Does it have any faults?If only Ken Russell had stuck to directing and left acting to actors.

In a nutshell: a Russian missile scientist, nicknamed Danté offers an obscure Brit publisher, Barley Blair, data that shows Russian missiles are junk.

The '8' is my old rating-I might revise this to 9 or 10 after a fresh viewing. Here's why: 1. I believe le Carré must have had Connery in mind for the lead character, Barley Blair. Truth is: Connery was born to play this role-no one else comes to mind. Barley is a drinker, publisher, philosopher at large. A bit of an anarchist, but firmly non-political. A jazz clarinetist who likes to gab about dreams of world peace-but he really does NOT want to get involved in the process. Connery is perfect.

2. Filmed partially in Russia, the scenery of Moscow & Leningrad is spectacular! This was an early (1990) production with Russian cooperation.

3. Tremendous supporting cast: Roy Scheider (from'Jaws') as Russel Sheridan, the chief agent for US Intelligence, has to play a character of many qualities, above all, an optimist for truly ending the Cold War. When things don't go as expected, he tells the team, 'Put the stools on the bar-TIL next time'. Honorable mention: John Mahoney as 'Brady', the super spy who has the ear of all the American higher-ups, including the President (in the book, Brady is given godlike status-note what he says about the 'deal' being offered by Danté.). And many others! Nice to see a young Martin Clunes as an orderly-long before his Doc Martin days.

4. Not an action film, no sex scenes but some harsh language-but, basically a dramatic study of the Cold War's conclusion. Carré was correct in pondering that even if the USSR missile system lagged way behind the Allied side, would the USA put thousands out of work by shutting down their production?

5. Fabulous irony. Danté tells Blair that 'the men in grey suits came to get his father, & they will come to get you, too!' Barley, like us, is reluctant to accept the notion that the 'good guys' are just as ruthless, but consider how strongly the Americans suspect Blair of complicity, when all indicators show that he is just not interested in money nor political matters.

As a great admirer of John Le Carre, I watched this film with high expectations & although the story wasn't the usual Le Carre (such as 'The Spy Who Came In From The Cold'), I enjoyed it immensely. It is a combination of a good old-fashioned romance & a look at what happens when an ordinary man is brought into the world of espionage. Connery is very good as the boozy, world-weary publisher who considers personal relationships more important than Cold War one-upmanship. Michelle Pfeiffer, apart from being very pleasing to the eye as usual, was also pretty believable as the Russian trying to do the right thing. What's more, Klaus Maria Brandauer deserves an honourable mention as well. OK, the plot is complicated & sometimes hard to follow, as are most of Le Carre's works (& also, doubtless, the real world of espionage), but it is worth the effort. If you are seeking a simple good guy beats bad guy film, then don't watch this or any other realistic spy film. If, however, you want a story that manages to combine cynicism & romance, I recommend this one.

The Russia House is a superior spy romance movie which falls short of being great. Additionally a couple of factors have been unkind to it over time.

Connery and Pfeiffer are excellant; the large cast are almost uniformly outstanding (except perhaps Roy Scheider, who I usually like, but who seems a bit over the top in his role here); the Moscow scenery and end of the Cold War feel are great, and the main characters are easy to like, if difficult to outright love. On the down side the writing assumes too much in expecting the audience to stay on top of the espionage jargon and intrigue, added to the non-linear plot. Let your attention wander and you'll lose your way. If it had been a little easier to follow, it would have left more room for dramatic tension, which was adequate but seldom riveting.

When I said that time has been unkind to The Russia House, I meant two things: firstly that the unfortunate timing of the movie's release, a year before the collapse of the Soviet Union, ensured that it would be dated almost immediately. More significantly, a growing portion of the film's potential audience didn't live through the late Soviet Era, and the nuances of concepts like Glasnost, and why Perestroika makes it hard for Pfeiffer to do her shoe-shopping aren't going to mean a thing to anyone much under 30.

But that's not the movie's fault. Russia House is still a quality, enjoyable drama with a great cast, even if it's somewhat ponderous and slow-moving, and complex. And oh yes - it has James Fox. A film like this without James Fox would have been like a table with three legs.

7 out of 10

While on an extended vacation in Soviet Russia, a publishing company manager by the name of "Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott-Blair" (Sean Connery) is approached by a mysterious person named "Dante" (Klaus Maria Brandauer) who seems unusually interested in his anti-nationalist philosophies. Although both flattered and intrigued, he gives it no mind and eventually returns to home in Portugal to continue his work. Not long after that, however, a Russian woman by the name of "Katya Orlova" (Michelle Pfeiffer) approaches a colleague of Bartholomew's named "Nicky Landau" (Nicholas Woodeson) in Moscow and gives him a manuscript to pass on to him. Not knowing how to get in contact with Bartholomew, Nicky hands it over to the British government who suddenly realize that they have in their possession a portion of the entire Soviet nuclear capabilities. Needless to say, this suddenly becomes a matter of great importance and Bartholomew is soon coerced into tracking down Katya in order to find Dante at all costs. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film had an extremely complex plot which was difficult to follow at times. There were also some rather slow scenes here and there along with a noticeable lack of suspense and action as well. Even so, Sean Connery performed in an excellent manner and all things considered I thought that this was a reasonably enjoyable spy movie and have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.