Triple Agent

France 2003, 115 minutes
Dir. Eric Rohmer
In French with English subtitles
Rating: [PG]
Genres: Foreign Cinema / War, Spy

Topics: Period 1930s.

Aroview: A measured and discrete exercise in espionage cinema from octagenrian dir. Rohmer (AN AUTUMN TALE), eschewing his usual air of cordial romance for an ironic tale of double and triple crosses in the political hotbed of mid-1930s Paris.

Based on the real-life Miller-Skobline scandal, the story revolves around a duplicitous White Russian general, who plays the middle against the communists, Nazis, his fellow emigres, and even his own wife, who comes to only gradually know of her husband's murky affairs. Merging domestic interior scenes and newsreel excerpts, this drama has a subtly-distanced savour and for the patient, Rohmer's reflections on trust and self-deception will soon have you in its thrall.