In 1981, disenchanted with what the communist ideal has become, KGB Colonel Gregoriev (Emir Kusturica -Underground ) decides to change the world by passing on secret US documents to Pierre (Guillaume Canet -Tell No One, Little White Lies), a French engineer working in Moscow. With Pierre acting as a reluctant go-between, the valuable documents find their way into the hands of France’s President Mitterrand and the French Secret Service, who give the Moscow source the codename ‘Farewell’.
The film is directed by Bafta Award nominated Christian Carion (Joyeux Noel), Farewell, and features a stellar award-winning cast including Alexandra Maria Lara and Willem Dafoe who convincingly depict the paranoia of the time as well as the courage and bravery of the individuals involved.
We caught up with Christian Carion to talk about the film.
– The film focuses on a very important period of world history. What initially piqued your interest and inspired you to make the film?
I really believe the 21st century started with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I thought it was incredibly important that the story of Farewell from this period was made into a film as it had never been told on screen before.
– This isn’t the first film to cover the subject of the Cold War so how do you think Farewell differs from other movies which touch on similar subjects?
I’ve done my best to recreate the Moscow from the Cold War era. Generally in most “western” movies covering the period, they portray sad people wearing grey clothes under a grey sky. I wanted to find out about the real Russia of that period so I asked to the Russian people working on the movie to bring the pictures taken during their holidays in the 80’s. They were full of colours!
The movie is also different as Farewell was not a spy, he was a normal guy living in a common life in Moscow who decided to make a big bang in a crazy way. I love the fact that he’s not a typical hero.
– The film obviously centres on a very important period of history – how did you go about capturing the feel of the era?
I was 20 at that time so I remember it well! I loved the music of Queen (which features in the movie), and remember Mitterrand’s election. My father’s car was a Renault 30… I definitely made a trip back to my 20’s by shooting this movie!
– Guillaume Canet is now a very established actor what is it like to work with him?
Since Joyeux Noel Guillaume has been a very good friend of mine. He’s very easygoing and it’s always exciting to work with him. I wrote the part of the French engineer in Farewell for him.
– Canet and Kusturica have some great on-screen chemistry as dissident spy and his reluctant go-between – how did you decide to cast them in these roles?
Emir Kusturica’s role was proposed to me by Susie Figgis, a genius English casting director. I met him and felt his personal attachment to that period of history immediately. I believe in that kind of chemistry so he was perfect for the film!
The film features dialogue in French, Russian and English– did you have any trouble translating what you wanted to convey on screen to the cast members?
The experience of working on a bilingual movie such as Joyeux Noel was incredibly important for me. Having good translators and a lot of energy helps!
– Did you experience any difficulties filming in such cold conditions?!
The main problem was we had just 4 hours of day light on the Arctic Circle!!
– Mainstream cinema has seen the popularity of foreign language films such as Farewell, Little White Lies and Amelie increase in the UK during the last decade. What do you think has sparked this ‘renaissance’ of French cinema?
I don’t have any scientific explications for this but I thank the British distributors who have given French movies a chance to exist!
– Throughout your career you’ve worked on some great films including the Academy Award nominated Joyeux Noel. Are you working on any current projects that you can talk about?
Thank you for the compliment! I’m working on two projects at the moment: an adaptation of Zweig’s novel: letter from an unknown woman and a movie about an incredible period in France during the month of May in 1940 which involved 10 million people abandoning their homes…
Farewell is out now on Blu-ray and DVD
