Watch it at Amazon
32 out of 34 people found the following review useful: Amazing, 19 July 2004 Author: cinegnostic from Portland, Oregon
This film is transcendent. The cinematography is beautiful. The shots of Moscow are dramatic and wonderful - all the more amazing when you consider that this is the first western film to be made in Russia since the ongoing collapse (at that time) of the USSR.The soundtrack is stunning. Listen to it. This is music that could stand on its own, given the chance. Buy the soundtrack disk. If you are like me, it will haunt you for years.Most importantly, the story line is terrific. The transformation of Barley Blair from a slacker boozer to a man driven to create a safe haven for his dearest love, no matter what the cost, is amazing. If only we all had such courage - the world would be a far better place.Watch this film. It is good.
27 out of 27 people found the following review useful: The first and best western film to come from Soviet Russia, 7 March 2005 Author: housejk from United States
The Russia House is an amazing movie. It captures the majesty of Russia in visits to Moscow and St. Petersburg (Leningrad) as well as the crumbling Soviet state. The first western movie filmed in the Soviet Union, The Russia House is better defined as a love story than as a spy thriller. Do not be concerned however, spy fans. There is plenty of intrigue to be had in this beautiful movie. The interplay between Sean Connery, Roy Scheider and J.T. Walsh in a scene from Vancouver, British Columbia alone is worth the price of admission. However, the true star of this understated romance is James Fox, who plays the British contact for Connery's Scott Blair and the foil for the CIA's Scheider character in such gentlemanly fashion as to make the audience believe the true Bond-style gentleman-spy really does exist in this world. From the beautiful scenery to perhaps the best and most haunting soundtrack of any movie--ever (reviews abound--just look them up, friends--easily the great Jerry Goldsmith's finest work), the Russia House is a truly mysterious and romantic movie.
27 out of 29 people found the following review useful: This is great stuff, 13 January 2002 Author: EnriqueH from Miami, Fl.
Admittedly, The Russia House may not be for all tastes, but I saw this when I was 15 when it came out in the theaters and I loved it then and I love it now. If you go in expecting this to be a James Bond/Simon Templar/North By Northwest type movie, you'll be GRAVELY disappointed. Needless to say, the movie is dialogue driven and the performances are great. Sean Connery (my all-time favorite) gives a nice performance in a role that isn't typical Connery. Michelle Pfeiffer (my favorite actress) is equally excellent. I kept looking for her to flub her Russian accent, but she's on target from start to finish. The supporting players: Roy Scheider, who I also love, is awesome. There's a lot of witty dialogue in this film, but Scheider has some of the film's most memorable ones. Ken Russell, the controversial director, has an equally memorable, witty role as "Walter". I own this movie, but between the time I saw it in the theaters and the time I bought it a year and half ago, Russell was one of the things about the movie that really stood out in my memory of the film. And of course, James Fox who's always great.Not really a supporting player but it might as well be is the LOCATIONS. Wow, really breathtaking stuff. Fred Schepsi did a wondrous job with the locations, and the CAMERA. The cinematography and locations were first-rate. And if that wasn't enough, I was equally enthralled with the jazzy musical score. If it isn't already apparent, I love this movie, and I absolutely recommend it. It has a nice blend of dialogue, plot, romance and humor. I reiterate: Not for all tastes given that many may find it slow, but definitely worth a look. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.
20 out of 21 people found the following review useful: Authentic and beautifully filmed on location; all actors excellent!, 26 April 2004 Author: lavasanipour from San Diego, California
My parents were born in and emigrated from the Ukraine. They have firsthand knowledge of the way the Soviet government operated. The details in the movie are very true to life under the Soviet regime. The plot is complex but life is also complex; especially under a repressive regime. I found the movie riveting; the plot keeps you guessing until the end. It is beautifully filmed on location. The actors are all excellent and very well cast. In addition, the music is wonderful; not only as a movie score but on its own, as well. Although some may find the plot difficult to follow (you do have to pay attention), it is well worth the viewing. After all, spying is a complex business.
24 out of 29 people found the following review useful: Last of the Cold War dramas? (Not for the easily distracted.), 16 May 2004 Author: Lupercali from Tasmania
The Russia House is a superior spy romance movie which falls short of being great. Additionally a couple of factors have been unkind to it over time.Connery and Pfeiffer are excellant; the large cast are almost uniformly outstanding (except perhaps Roy Scheider, who I usually like, but who seems a bit over the top in his role here); the Moscow scenery and end of the Cold War feel are great, and the main characters are easy to like, if difficult to outright love. On the down side the writing assumes too much in expecting the audience to stay on top of the espionage jargon and intrigue, added to the non-linear plot. Let your attention wander and you'll lose your way. If it had been a little easier to follow, it would have left more room for dramatic tension, which was adequate but seldom riveting.When I said that time has been unkind to The Russia House, I meant two things: firstly that the unfortunate timing of the movie's release, a year before the collapse of the Soviet Union, ensured that it would be dated almost immediately. More significantly, a growing portion of the film's potential audience didn't live through the late Soviet Era, and the nuances of concepts like Glasnost, and why Perestroika makes it hard for Pfeiffer to do her shoe-shopping aren't going to mean a thing to anyone much under 30.But that's not the movie's fault. Russia House is still a quality, enjoyable drama with a great cast, even if it's somewhat ponderous and slow-moving, and complex. And oh yes - it has James Fox. A film like this without James Fox would have been like a table with three legs.7 out of 10
18 out of 18 people found the following review useful: John LeCarre heaven, 24 January 2005 Author: steviekeys from NYC, United States
My first comment for this site....exciting stuff.Prompted to write this by seeing this again on video - the third time for me, and it's rare that I want to see anything three times. And I realized that it's fascination still holds....this is one of my top 10, definitely.The reasons I would rate this a "9", while somebody else would give it a "5.9" are largely personal....i think it always comes down to the personal. Talk all we want, when we watch a movie - as when we eat a meal, or kiss someone - the pleasure center in the brain either lights up or doesn't. For me it's all about the love of a place...for Scott Barley Blair it's early Glastnost Russia, for me it's 90's Germany - Hamburg, Berlin...the strangeness, the trueness of people who surround you in such a place and your love for them because of this. The fact that a film can light up specific sense memories like these means that it is true - at least in that respect. This is a remarkably honest film - terrifically unsensational for a spy film and one of the rare "love stories" that delivers the satisfactions expected of a "love story" without getting mawkish. Everything rings true here except for the ending (a fabricated "happy ending" which is the only thing that kept me from rating this a 10).To ask for Manchurian Candidate type excitement from this low key film is wrong. The suspense, which is remarkably sustained (those rich long tracking shots of people walking through public places to uncertain destinations to meet with, or maybe not meet with shadow characters who may be allies or enemies) is the truer suspense of the uncertainty of living in a gray, gray world...where nothing much happens, but peril is part of the fabric of mundane life.(Those sequences are gorgeous....the colors of autumn in a Leningrad park, the closeups of the stone gargoyles....the moody circular stepping pace of the soundtrack....Branford Marsalis' saxophone.) Someone has said here that it is talky. Yes, it is talky...but the talk is brilliant...it is the perfect reflection of a world where everyone - book publishers and bureaucrats and spies alike speaks in mannered, ritualized streams of code. This is not disinformation - it is perfectly understood by all, a language that has supplanted the language of an earlier age in which sincerity was an option.Besides that ending, the piece is perfectly faithful to LeCarre's novel. LeCarre's books have had good luck when being translated into movies. Of the eight or so that have been adapted, four have made great films: The Spy Who Came into the Cold, The Russia House, and the two George Smiley BBC miniseries. LeCarre is a great writer and more specifically great at plotting and dialogue, and these films all succeed pretty much by filming what is written unadorned and pouring on the atmosphere. And they are blessed with lead performances by three great actors at the top of the form - Richard Burton, Sean Connery and Alec Guiness (Guiness especially...to watch him for six hours in Smiley's People is one of the great pleasures).A beautifully efficient and elegant translation by Tom Stoppard of a great novel, wonderfully dignified and touching performances by Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer (never seen her better), a beautiful soundtrack by a second tier composer graced by the presence of a real jazz master, a terrific evocation of a place and time....a very moving film.
14 out of 15 people found the following review useful: A surprisingly non-cynical Le Carre story, 18 June 2004 Author: Troopie from Hua Hin, Thailand
As a great admirer of John Le Carre, I watched this film with high expectations & although the story wasn't the usual Le Carre (such as 'The Spy Who Came In From The Cold'), I enjoyed it immensely. It is a combination of a good old-fashioned romance & a look at what happens when an ordinary man is brought into the world of espionage. Connery is very good as the boozy, world-weary publisher who considers personal relationships more important than Cold War one-upmanship. Michelle Pfeiffer, apart from being very pleasing to the eye as usual, was also pretty believable as the Russian trying to do the right thing. What's more, Klaus Maria Brandauer deserves an honourable mention as well. OK, the plot is complicated & sometimes hard to follow, as are most of Le Carre's works (& also, doubtless, the real world of espionage), but it is worth the effort. If you are seeking a simple good guy beats bad guy film, then don't watch this or any other realistic spy film. If, however, you want a story that manages to combine cynicism & romance, I recommend this one.
13 out of 14 people found the following review useful: a romance pretending to be a thriller, 19 March 1999 Author: hbs from United States
Maybe I was just in the right mood, but I found this an effective romance. Michelle Pfieffer was even better than her usual terrific self, and the rest of the excellent cast was, well, excellent. It is pretty slow, but I think that this is essential to the conclusion, which I found quite moving. You have to give this movie a chance to grow on you, but if you are patient it is quite accessible. Not bleak at all, as you'd expect from Le Carre.
13 out of 15 people found the following review useful: An amazing film, 1 February 2004 Author: cinegnostic from Portland, Oregon
This is a movie that will overwhelm you, if you let it. If you are interested in nonstop action, look somewhere else. If you are looking for a nice, linear story line, look somewhere else. If, on the other hand, you are looking for a complex story set at the sunset of Soviet Russia, with an incomparable musical score and believable characters you can accept as the real thing, rent or buy this movie. Sean Connery does a wonderful job as a worldly and inebrieated man confronting true love, and all it ramifications, for once in his life. Michelle Pfeiffer is a beautiful, but tired, mother of two who doesn't have the time for love without meaning. Behind the scenes, the interplay between American and British intelligence is priceless. Lastly, the score is wonderful. If you can't bring yourself to watch the film, at least buy the CD of the soundtrack. This is top shelf stuff. You will not be disappointed.
12 out of 18 people found the following review useful: Slow Pacing - James Bond This Is Not, 19 December 1999 Author: gbheron from Washington, DC
Interesting adaptation of John Le Carre's spy novel. As with Mr. Le Carre's writing the movie is slow and deliberately paced, letting the plot slowly sink in, and not explode in your face. The casting is dead-on with a frumpy Connery playing a middle-aged British book publisher whose love of Russia draws him in to a very high-stakes espionage caper at the end of the Cold War. Michelle Pfeiffer is also well cast as Katya, his Russian counterpart, i.e., a non-professional also drawn into the spy game. The movie does have a problem in moving the plot along through the all-to-frequent scenes of guys sitting around talking about espionage stuff. But if you like this kind of slow-paced, heavily romantic, thinking man's thriller then give this movie a try.
Add another review
