atlasmb
Sean Connery, in a wonderfully nuanced performance, plays "Barley", a tousled book publisher who looks like a retired English professor. He is relaxing in Portugal when British and American intelligence officers invade his quiet life, seeking to recruit him for a dangerous mission. They have chosen him because a manuscript by an unknown author has been intercepted, and it is addressed to him. He is a Russophile who visits Russia, now under glasnost, regularly.The script for "The Russia House" is by Tom Stoppard, adapted from the novel by John le Carre. Shot on location, the film is aided by spectacular scenes of Russia and its beautiful architecture: the Kremlin, Red Square, the subway stations. We come to understand Barley's love of the people, if not the government. Connery--coming from "The Hunt for Red October"--gives us a protagonist easy to relate to.Michelle Pfeiffer plays Katya, an unassuming single mother who becomes the nexus for the drama. Hot on the heels of "Married to the Mob", "Tequila Sunrise", "Dangerous Liaisons", and "The Fabulous Baker Boys", she gives a Golden Globe nominated performance. Katya becomes the embodiment of Russia's soul for Barley, someone he is compelled to love. Besides, she is luminously beautiful.The rest of the cast is solid. Deserving special attention are Roy Scheider and Klaus Maria Brandauer, whose performances are exceptionally strong.Like the cinematography, the music really helps create a mood. This is a story about nations, about peoples, about individuals, and about how conflicting allegiances force us to make choices that define our view of the world and ourselves.
chris
I am a huge fan of John le Carre novels and only recently found out that this movie had been made. Having only recently read the book I was nervously excited about this. I was nervous because the book is extremely complex and was worried about how this would transfer to film. I also wasn't sure that I could see Connery and Pfeiffer in the leading roles but I was delighted to have my fears crushed by an extremely accomplished performance all round. The acting, the script, the location shots and musical score fitted absolutely perfectly. Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer were fantastic in their roles which I genuinely didn't expect. The story is complex and takes a fair amount of concentration and discipline to follow - but it's worth it if you want to make the most of this grossly underrated adaptation that's true to form and loyal to Le Carre's style.
SnoopyStyle
Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer) passes along a manuscript intended for minor publisher boozy Barley Blair (Sean Connery). It contains three notebooks from Dante (Klaus Maria Brandauer) showing Russian military secrets and their inferiority. Dante had meet Barley earlier during a party where they connected. British agent Ned (James Fox) and CIA Russell (Roy Scheider) lead the effort to make contact with Dante and determine the validity of the information.This movie does get a good sense of a period of time in Russia. What is truly missing is a sense of tension. There isn't enough danger for Barley. He's not getting killed. At most, the Americans put a little pressure on him but the problem is that he doesn't care. Like he says, he's not selling them the Picasso. He's really just the delivery boy transporting the Picasso. I struggle to figure out what the danger is for Barley. Obviously, the danger is higher for Katya. I love Michelle Pfeiffer but her Russian accent annoyed me. Also there is little chemistry between her and Sean Connery. Her motives are questionable and he's just an old dude after a hot young thing.The most interesting relationship in this movie is between Ned and Russell. They have to decide whether this is real or not. Also they have to run the plan. Their positions are on the line which elevates the danger level for them. It seems to me that there is an easy solution to the questions falling into the wrong hands. They could add other questions to the list. While there are interesting aspects to this movie, there is a dangerous lack of tension.
Glifada
Without any hesitation, I admit: this is one of my favorite movies! To be more precise, it's one of the top 5 movies I have ever seen, and a rare one I watched several times in the course of the two decades (in cinema, on video or TV). I noticed an interesting development of my attitude towards this movie: my first watching hasn't resulted in a special satisfaction (as far as I remember), but every subsequent time the movie engaged me more and more. Obviously, this masterpiece of non-standard political thriller should be seen more then once! What is so good about it? I would say – everything! First, the theme: a subtle story of personal relationship (ending with love affair) between two people from different political worlds placed in the atmosphere of the last faze of the cold war era and the beginning of the USSR collapse. Second: the brilliant main roles performed by Sean Connery (charming as always) and Michelle Pfeiffer (probably her best appearance ever; she was so persuasive in the role of a 'typical' Slavic character and mentality). Third: some amazing scenes of dilapidated Moscow environment, conveying the atmosphere of a derelict regime which is about to be changed. Fourth: excellent, unobtrusive and well attuned music. Fifth: a contrived direction and film editing ('fusion' of two different scenes), etc.All in all, The Russia House is a masterpiece of its kind and I wander about the pretty low rating it got at IMDb.com. It's not fair in this case. It's not fair, indeed!
AD
