Agents secrets

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. (**)

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")

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.

I've expected to have a different look from the French film industry to a spy trivia rather than imitating the American flavor. Whatever you do, imitation is an imitation and you can't get rid of that.

Although the scenario has some potential, it seems they've missed the point and got bored in the story telling. Monica Bellucci is a really beautiful and talented actress whom I admire, but she got lost in the movie with the same dull look and it seems she didn't like her role too... The best casting is Vincent Cassel and he's probably the only one who took it seriously. The chief staff of the secret missions are too light to be described as bosses. The action scenes are rare and not so devastating. The camera use is fine though.

If you have some spare time, you may enjoy the film, but don't expect too much of it. 6 out of 10.

Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel team up again after "Irreversible" in this decent movie that I recommend due to its simplicity and gripping storyline. Despite some definite defects (Bellucci's acting firstly), it shows a couple well working together and having a strong chemistry; a lot of intrigues, cover ups, action scenes. Shot in Casablanca, Geneva and Southern France (I guess) it can be seen as a motion picture that rarely loses its grip, well scripted and acted. The only objections I can find are Monica's Bellucci's role and the shortage of something that might have avoided the film to fall into the ordinary spy genre, like a stage trick revealing something new.