Agents secrets

A team of secret agents – Raymond (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), Loic (Ludovic Schoendoerffer), Lisa (Monica Bellucci) and their leader Brisseau (Vincent Cassel) – is assigned by the French Agency in a mission called Janua to sink the general cargo vessel "Anita Hans" in Casablanca. The ship is transporting weapons for the rebels in the civil war of Angola that are using diamonds to pay the dealer Igor Lipovsky (Serge Avedikian). Brisseau and Lisa are advised by an American agent to abort their mission, but their superiors order them to ignore. When the mission is successfully accomplished, Lisa is framed and arrested in the airport with 150 g of heroine. When Raymond is killed, Brisseau realizes that they have been betrayed and he tries to release Lisa from the prison.

"Agents Secrets" is a bitter and realistic original story of manipulation and betrayal, showing the dangerous, lonely and empty lives of secret agents, where the interest of a nation is above any principle of ethics, as Machiavelli observed and wrote in the Fifteenth Century. Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci have excellent lead performances, well supported by a great European cast, and the action scenes are really very impressive. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Agentes Secretos" ("Secret Agents")

This movie offers several spectacular shots (free-falling, swimming against the sunset, scuba-diving, car flip / crash, etc), locations (France, Switzerland, Morocco, Spain) and means of transportation (cars, boats, subway trains, planes, helicopters). The production values are certainly very polished. But the director takes an overly detailed approach to storytelling - there are quite a few scenes that go on longer than necessary. The thrills are limited: a car chase ends almost as soon as it begins, and a fight between Cassel and a Spanish female assassin (Najwa Nimri) is shot in such tight close-ups that you literally can't see any of the moves. As for the insights into the spy business ("We're not asking her to collaborate with us; we're asking her to obey our orders"), they're not exactly groundbreaking stuff. The intense Cassel and the dazzling Bellucci are interesting people to look at, but for the most part this spy thriller is too dry - and the ending is poor. (**)

Hi! First of all I have to say that I really enjoyed 'Agents secrets'. I wasn't disappointed as many seems to be because I knew what kind of film I was going to see... By this, I would mean that it is a 'Schoendoerffer movie' i.e. a movie that is not focusing on a special mission or on action but rather on people, what implies their job, on their daily life...even if they are spies. It was the same in one of his prior movies 'scenes de crimes'. So, don't expect to be staggered by special effects or by an unexpected end. You're not in 'M.I.1' or in 'The Usual suspects' - even if I also appreciated these movies- , what matters is people, their relations, their perception of their job... It was really a good moment and it does not really matter if at the end everything is not fully explained. It's not the the director's main purpose at all...

Again a french blockbuster! I had in mind "Largo Winch" for our national action / thriller tries and the feeling that something was lacking in comparison to James Bond, "Mission Impossible" or the recent "Traitor".

My opinion hasn't changed: action isn't unforgettable, the story is boring, and the characters dull: even before the troubles come, the spies are depressive, mournful!

I know the director wanted to show the crude reality of undercover action but he failed to tell something interesting. Even his commentary is lethargic. It's a pity because some sequences show that he is talented with a camera!

The best moment of the movie is their "vacations" in Casablanca, because it was almost like mine in Oujda, another Moroccan town: streets filled with people, red and whites taxis, pool, …

And another french DVD without subtitles!

Frederic Schoendorffer directed 4 years ago a great serial killer movie with a realistic point of view, "Scenes de crimes". And now he does it all over again with "Agents secrets", a sharp, always surprising look at the world of spies. Like, a James Bond movie directed by Ken Loach (well, sort of). Of course, when you decide to take a movie genre and break all its rules one by one, it helps to have two major movie stars by your side. Our American friends may not realize how big Vincent Cassell and Monica Bellucci are in France. They're, like, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, only more rebellious and real and glamorous and daring and hip. When you look at their respective filmographies, you know for sure that "Agents secrets" won't be a "Troy" or a "Along Came Polly" (though I do respect and love Brad and Jennifer, their career moves are sometimes, well, surprising). Now, Vincent and Monica are a real life couple and they do not play a couple in "Agents secrets", but two spies who pretend to be a couple on a mission that will go awfully wrong. Don't expect too many visual effects here : the suspense is intensely psychological and the cast does deliver, even though the screenplay sometimes doesn't (to be honest, the story is not always clear). When I saw the movie, most people in the audience were very angry by its ending. Without giving it away, I can tell you it is daring : the director wanted to make a movie about the extraordinary life of ordinary people who have no choice, once they've chosen such a lifestyle, but to live this way till they die. Their whole life is a mission, and it has no end.