They have been warned by sources from outside the DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure): the operation they are working on is destined to fail – a set-up, actually. And still, the Action Division operatives get sent into the field. Just like the film Rebellion by Mathieu Kassovitz, Secret Agents is rooted in a true story of violence abroad: the 1985 ‘Satanic Operation’, popularly remembered as the sinking of Greenpeace’s vessel the Rainbow Warrior. Frédéric Schoendoerffer and his co-authors short-circuited this seedy piece of history with additional plot lines addressing illegal arms dealing; the last remnants of colonialism in the form of carefully orchestrated (and financed) civil unrest all over Africa; and the role of new Russian money in the shifting post-Cold War landscape of world-wide intrigue and power games. Rarely has Frédéric been as close to his father, legendary war-adventure literator/filmmaker Pierre Schoendoerffer, as he is here. For isn’t Secret Agents above all a Conradian journey into the heart of darkness?
Film details
Countries of production
France, Italy, Spain
Year
2004
Festival edition
IFFR 2017
Length
109'
Medium/Format
35mm
Language
English, French, German, Spanish
Premiere status
None
Director
Frédéric Schoendoerffer
Producer
Éric Névé, Francisco Ramos
Screenplay
Yann Brion, Jean Cosmos, Olivier Douyère, Frédéric Schoendoerffer, Ludovic Schoendoerffer
Cinematography
Jean-Pierre Sauvaire
Editing
Irene Blecua
Production design
Jean-Baptiste Poirot
Sound design
Frédéric Attal
Principal cast
Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, André Dussollier, Charles Berling, Bruno Todeschini, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Eric Savin