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The Russia House

5.9

4,562

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Original title

The Russia House

Year

1990

Running time

123 min.

Country

United States

Director

Fred Schepisi

Screenwriter

Tom Stoppard. Novel: John Le Carré

Cast

Music

Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography

Ian Baker

Producer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Pathé Entertainment, Star Partners. Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Genre

Mystery | Spy Film. Cold War

Movie Groups

John le Carré Adaptations

Synopsis

"Barley" Scott Blair (Sean Connery) is an alcoholic book editor from a bargain-basement publishing house in Great Britain who'd rather be drinking in Lisbon than attending a book dealers' show in Russia. So he's surprised when a CIA agent (Mac McDonald) pulls him from his boozy holiday. It seems that the CIA has through a book show intermediary received a package from a Russian book editor named Katya (Michelle Pfeiffer) containing amazingly detailed notebooks written by a cynical Russian physicist named "Dante" (Klaus-Maria Brandauer). The notebooks show that Russia's nuclear threat is a joke: Russian rockets "suck instead of blow...and can't hit Nevada on a clear day," in the acerbic words of CIA Agent Russell Sheridan (Roy Scheider). But why is Dante sending the notebooks to Blair? How shall the Western world respond to what could be the end of the nuclear arms race? Blair gets drafted by a British Secret Service agent (James Fox) to go to the new Russia to meet Katya. He must see whether the new Russia is still immersed in the old Cold War and whether the notebooks are genuine or another deadly chapter in the war of the spies.

Awards: 1990: Golden Globes: Nominated Best Actress Drama (Michelle Pfeiffer)

1991: Berlin Film Festival: Official Selection

1990: National Society of Film Critics (NSFC): 2 nominations

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Critics' reviews

"Despite some smart, brittle dialogue and the classy cast, this seldom rises above the routine (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"

Angie Errigo: Empire
"If it is like any of its characters, it's like Katya. It's reserved, careful to declare itself but full of potent surprises. It's one of the year's best films"

Hal Hinson: The Washington Post
"A virtually perfect adapatation of a virtually perfect novel"

Jay Carr: The Globe and Mail
"What's good are the few emotional moments (...) But these flashes of energy are isolated inside a screenplay that is static and boring (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"The greatest compliment one can pay The Russia House is to say that it's the kind of spy movie that's making spy movies obsolete."

Jay Carr: Boston Globe
"Apart from a certain implausibility in the film's initial premise, this is a first-rate entertainment that captures Le Carre's jaundiced if morally sensitive vision wi"

Jonathan Rosenbaum: Chicago Reader
"John le Carre's glasnost-era espionage novel has been turned into intelligent adult entertainment, but somber tone, utter lack of action and sex, and complexity of plot tilts this mainly to upscale audience"

Variety Staff: Variety
"An extremely pleasant but lightweight espionage drama set in the glasnost age, Connery brings that charisma to bear and, with co-star Michelle Pfeiffer's help, makes the movie work."

Peter Travers: Rolling Stone

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User history

The Russia House

1990

Fred Schepisi

5.9

(4,562)