MWFF 2015: THE SOUL OF A SPY

"The Soul of the Spy" Official Russian Poster

DUSHA SHPIONA / THE SOUL OF A SPY

Душа шпиона

2015, Colour & B W, Russia, 110 minutes, World Competition 

Production Team:

Director : Vladimir Bortko

Screenwriter : Vladimir Bortko, Mikhail Lyubimov. D'après le roman/Based on the novel: And Hell Followed Him. De/By: Mikhael Lyubimov

Cinematographer : Elena Ivanova

Editor : Leda Semenova

Cast : Andrei Chernyshov, Malcolm McDowell, Daniil Spivakovskiy, Liam Cunningham, Fedor Bondarchuk, Sandrine Bonnaire

Music : Igor Krutoi

Film production and Sales : Prod.: Leonid Vereshagin, Anton Zlatopolskiy, Natalia Bortko, Three T Productions / Studio 2B2 Entertainment, Kamenoostrovsky Avenue 10, St. Petersbourg 197101 (Russie), info@trite.ru / pr@lenfilm.ru.

Director

Born in Moscow in 1946, Vladimir Bortko grew up in the family of the Ukrainian Soviet playwright Aleksandr Korneychuk. After his studies in the Geological College in Kiev and his military service, he worked as an electrical engineer in Kiev before studying theatre and cinema and joining the Dovzhenko Film Studios as an assistant director. He made his own directorial debut in 1975 with KANAL and came to international attention in 1988 with his adaptation of Bulgakov's HEART OF A DOG. For television, he adapted Dostoyevsky's The Idiot and Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. His 2009 film, TARAS BULBA, adapted from Gogol, was also a popular success. 

This film is based on the book And Hell Followed Him written by the former Soviet intelligence officer Mikhail Lyubimov who personally experienced the same espionage situations and adventures as his heroes. In the 1960s, he was a Soviet spy resident in London. He was well known in the best English houses where he appeared with the same charming smile as The Soul of the Spy's main character. He spoke with influential politicians and major cultural and public figures. The author of the book was merciless and direct in portraying the realities of the international spy sceen, and this is also the case with Vladimir Botko, the director of the film. 

The film shows the worldwide game of spying in a way it has never been seen on the screen before. In addition to the suspense, it has just the right combination of the rhythm, changing of the scenes, the introduction of new characters, situations, and the mounting of the intrigue. The actors succeeded with professional mastery to portray not only the "art of spying" and all that is involved in that dirty and dangerous game, but also to show the inner turmoil, emotions and even moral dilemmas of what is right and wrong, and how far one is obliged, wiling and able to go to achieve the required goals. One of the key question that arises is to what an extent is one justified either by a situation, or within oneself, to use innocent people, basically bystanders, who might even care and love you, in deceiving them, endangering their lives, and even causing their death.

Several internationally recognized actors appear in this film. It shows that by agreeing to participate in the film they recognized its great value and overall impact. But even those actors whose name or faces you do not recognize, they all act with high professionalism and talent.

Film's Official Synopsis:

"A Russian intelligence agent Alexander Fedorov who works in London under the name of Alex Wilkie asks for a political asylum in the West. He then becomes a double agent working for both Russia and USA. But for whom is he really working? His territory covers Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Egypt, Morocco and Russia. The story ends up with the solution to the riddle and five corpses. But this isn't a normal spy story. It is about a spy's methods and instruments. A surgeon works with a scalpel, a miner with an air hammer. A spy, notwithstanding what country he is working for -- China or Japan, Russia or USA -- has the same instruments: blackmail, theft, eavesdropping, forgery... And when required even murder. A spy may have a few wives -- for purposes of cover. No friends, but plenty of informers. In order to lead a double, a treble life. It is a profession that makes an imprint on a human being, as it did on the KGB colonel Michael Lyubimov during the Cold War. "

The film had its World Premier at the Montreal World Film Festival. Do make an opportunity to see it.

Projections

Friday August 28, 2015 - 04:30 PM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL
Saturday August 29, 2015 - 02:00 PM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL

Images courtesy of the Montreal World Film Festival and the director Vladimir Bortko.

Film review © 2015 Nadia Slejskova