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Espion, lève-toi

  • 1982
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
1.4K
YOUR RATING
Bruno Cremer, Michel Piccoli, and Lino Ventura in Espion, lève-toi (1982)
CrimeDramaThriller

Sébastien Grenier, a French sleeper agent in Switzerland, is contacted after eight years of silence after the murder of an other mole. But he doubts the identity of the person who presents h... Read allSébastien Grenier, a French sleeper agent in Switzerland, is contacted after eight years of silence after the murder of an other mole. But he doubts the identity of the person who presents himself as his superior.Sébastien Grenier, a French sleeper agent in Switzerland, is contacted after eight years of silence after the murder of an other mole. But he doubts the identity of the person who presents himself as his superior.

  • Director
    • Yves Boisset
  • Writers
    • George Markstein
    • Michel Audiard
    • Claude Veillot
  • Stars
    • Lino Ventura
    • Michel Piccoli
    • Bruno Cremer
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    1.4K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Yves Boisset
    • Writers
      • George Markstein
      • Michel Audiard
      • Claude Veillot
    • Stars
      • Lino Ventura
      • Michel Piccoli
      • Bruno Cremer
    • 10User reviews
    • 5Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination total

    Photos16

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    Top cast19

    Edit
    Lino Ventura
    Lino Ventura
    • Sébastien Grenier
    Michel Piccoli
    Michel Piccoli
    • Jean-Paul Chance
    Bruno Cremer
    Bruno Cremer
    • Richard
    Bernard Fresson
    Bernard Fresson
    • Henri Marchand
    Marc Mazza
    • Ramos Bavila
    Roger Jendly
    • Le commissaire Lohmann
    Heinz Bennent
    Heinz Bennent
    • Meyer
    Krystyna Janda
    Krystyna Janda
    • Anna Gretz
    Jean Reney
    Beate Kopp
    • La secrétaire de Grenier
    Philippe Brizard
    • Le collaborateur de Grenier
    Christian Baltauss
    • Le bibliothécaire
    Jean-Paul Franky
    • Rudy la blonde
    Dieter Moor
    Dieter Moor
    • Dieter Krauss
    Kurt Bigger
    • Alfred Zimmer
    • (uncredited)
    Pierre Boffety
    • Postman
    • (uncredited)
    Yves Boisset
    Yves Boisset
    • L'adjoint de Richard
    • (uncredited)
    Ali Lexa
    • Man in bar
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Yves Boisset
    • Writers
      • George Markstein
      • Michel Audiard
      • Claude Veillot
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews10

    6.61.3K
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    Featured reviews

    searchanddestroy-1

    Intriguing spy thriller

    I am still amazed by the resemblance between this movie and another one starring Lino Ventura, and also a French movie full of mystery and disturbing plot, another movie where the technicians and actors did not know the whereabouts of the plot: UN PAPILLON SUR L'EPAULE. Of course the story is not the same, here Ventura plays a secret agent working for the French SDECE, the former DGSE - French CIA, MI6 or Mossad, in charge of the protection of outside French interests in the world. It is hard to follow, disturbing I repeat, and the ending is more or less the same - I would say the very same for the Lino Ventura's character. Another element in common with UN PAPILLON SUR L'EPAULE. You can also think about LA SEPTIEME CIBLE or LE SILENCIEUX, also with Ventura, as a tracked down man. Typical Yves Boisset's topic, government maneuvering, fiddling, where the human life is easily worthless. Boisset's favourite message. Reason of state among everything and every one. I personally met Marc Mazza once and shaked his hand; he was my father's boss' son. Father Mazza was a big executive in an Italian tyre factory, and my father a truck driver delivering tyres in retailor's warehouses.
    8udippel

    An underrated movie ...

    For me a recent discovery, this makes a great movie! - Okay, I understand that anyone who wants to understand a movie, and waits for the code to be implemented, this might be a disappointment. Though here we have great actors, especially Piccoli and Ventura, a tight and strict storyboard / script; and a good helping of suspense.

    In principle we see a movie clipped together from a large bunch of consecutive moments in time (and location), inserted like subtitles, with a precision of minutes. Like flashlights on the developments. Good cinematography, no excess of brutality nor effects. Just a nice, though somewhat extraordinary, traditional movie.

    I do wonder if I could really understand the plot, even if I watched this movie a dozen times. Though that doesn't make the movie seriously worse, because the main line of action is always clear. That is, what is happening. Unclear remains, who is on which side, and how the whole matter got started.

    Watch it, if you can!
    7VanheesBenoit

    When sleepers meet the Big Sleep

    Sebastien Grenier is a successful French businessman, who has been living in Switserland for several years. He's married to a German professor of literature. But Grenier has a secret: he used to be a field agent for the French secret service SDECE. However, as the years went by, he certainly don't expect a wake up call any longer. He couldn't have been more wrong… Similarly as with CIA-agents, once SDECE, always SDECE… He's played by a somewhat grumpy, tired looking Lino Ventura.

    It all starts with a RAF style execution of a passenger in a tramway by a leftist terrorist group. From then on, Grenier gets caught in a whirlwind of events, leading to several other violent deaths. The "where's" and "when's" of these events are announced in a cool voice by a narrator. (Several other spy movies use a similar semi-documentary approach, others use a "telex"-message for the same purpose). The first victim is Henri Marchand, another SDECE-agent, played by Bernard Fresson. Many Americans will remember him as the French commissaire Barthélémy in French Connection II, with his funny clashes with "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hacklman.

    Grenier soon realizes that he might not live very long anymore. But who is the spider in the deadly web around him ? Is it the mysterious and cold "Richard", played by Bruno Cremer ?(of "Maigret"-fame). Or is it Jean-Paul Chance, a slick Swiss high official from the Justice Department, who seems to be extremely well informed by whatever Grenier is doing. (Chance is played by Michel Piccoli, who clearly enjoys irritating the Grenier-character). Who's systematically knocking out several pawns on the international chess game, and why ? In the end, the French former agent will manage to shed some light into some dark corners. What he doesn't realize is that the gun, pointed at his back is hidden in another shadowy corner. Or is he ?

    Not a bad movie, but by far not as good as "Le silencieux" (1973, also with Ventura. Maybe the movie doesn't really manages to create a real mysterious atmosphere of clear and present danger, as for example "La septième cible" manages to do in a better way. The way the secret agents communicate with each other also has something laughable, it all looks so terribly boyscoutish. It also made me seasick to see how sparkless the Grenier-Gretz "couple" apparently had become. They were clearly at the brink of a total burn out, before death took its toll… In fact, the whole movie has something extremely depressing: the tired looks of Grenier, his moody interactions with his business collaborator, his secretary and his wife, and every one involved in the story. The soundtrack consists of a sober, efficient but also somewhat depressing march, yet another Morricone creation. Even the landscapes of Switserland surely wouldn't be the ones I would use to attract more tourists
    8innperu

    Well told story with great actors

    I saw this film years ago when I was much younger and it was just another movie but 35 odd years later you understand what the story is about and its all very clever indeed
    dbdumonteil

    Abstract politics.

    Yves Boisset has always been a politically committed director,but his stories are always linear and accessible:hence their efficiency,even if people complain about their manicheism or naiveté.One cannot deny their impact on the audience when it comes to depicting the Algerian war (in RAS) or racism (in Dupont Lajoie,probably his best effort).

    "Espion lève -toi" moves in another direction ;relatively speaking it shows the influence of Pakula and "the parallax view".A hero (Ventura)fighting against something he does not really understand,estranged from his compatriots in Zurich ,Switzerland,the symbol of the power of money.Around him everybody's dying,even his lover ,a German professor is threatened ,and maybe she's not the woman he thinks she is (hints at Baader's gang and terrorism).When Ventura strikes back,not only it's too late but it may also be absurd and pointless:he 's nothing but a puppet on a string like laurence Harvey in "Mandchourian candidate" .

    This movie is unique in Boisset's career:it was initially to be directed by Zulawski,and the snub critics used to say what a better movie it would have been !It's not sure :Zulawski's works are often pretentious and -in France,abroad they do not seem to bother- overrated ("posession" or "l'important c'est d'aimer")and Boisset's simplicity and academic but efficient style fit the screenplay like a glove.Unlike Frankenheimer's and Pakula 's works I Mention above,"Espion lève- toi" is no masterpiece but it should appeal to people who like this genre.

    Yves Boisset got lost after this effort:he tackled pure thriller with "le prix du danger" "canicule "or "bleu comme l'enfer",and deprived of his political or social comments he was nothing but another director

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      The movie was originally to be directed by Andrzej Zulawski. Zulawski left the project after dissensions between him and Lino Ventura.
    • Goofs
      Several times throughout the movie a voice over states location and time the following events will take place. On the arrival of a train in Zurich central train station, it says 14h25 (2.25 pm) but two, perfectly visible railway station clocks show that it's in fact 11.43 am.
    • Connections
      Referenced in Parole de cinéaste: Yves Boisset: le cinéaste le plus censuré de France (2013)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 27, 1982 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Switzerland
    • Languages
      • French
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Der Maulwurf
    • Filming locations
      • Max-Joseph Platz, Munich, Bavaria, Germany(as Munich's city library)
    • Production companies
      • Cathala Productions
      • TF1 Films Production
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 38 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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