An Officer and a Spy (2019)

An Officer and a Spy is the English title of a French-Italian historical drama (based on a true story) which premiered in 2019. It is the story of Alfred Dreyfus who was an officer in the French Army. In 1894, he was the victim of a wrongful conviction.

According to the French Army, Dreyfus was a traitor who had delivered secret information to Germany (which was, at the time, the arch enemy of France). Dreyfus declared his innocence, but the army did not believe him.

When Dreyfus was tried in a court of law, he was found guilty. The sentence was life in prison. And it would not be served in a prison in France. They sent him to Devil's Island, a small island off the coast of South America. For life!

But before long, it became clear that Dreyfus had in fact been telling the truth: he was innocent, but now the leaders of the French Army and the French Republic had a problem, because they could not admit that they had made a mistake. Therefore the wrongful conviction could not be corrected.

This was the root of the Dreyfus affair which lasted for several years and which split the French population into two factions that hated and fought each other.

The story of Dreyfus and his wrongful conviction is a dark but important chapter in the history of modern France.

Here is some basic information about this drama:

** French title: J’accuse 
** Director: Roman Polanski

** Writers: Roman Polanski and Robert Harris

** Based on a historical novel by Robert Harris (2013)

** Language: French

** Run time: 132 minutes

An on-screen message placed at the beginning of the drama explains that all characters in this movie are based on real historical persons. The cast includes the following:

** Jean Dujardin as George Piquart (1854-1914) – an officer in the French Army

** Luca Barbareschi as Philippe Monnier – a French politician

** Emmanuelle Seigner as Pauline Monnier – the wife of Philippe Monnier

** Louis Garrel as Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) – an officer in the French Army

** Gregory Gadebois as Hubert-Joseph Henry (1846-1898) – a major in the French Army

** Herve Pierre as Charles-Arthur Gonse (1838-1917) – a general in the French Army

** Melvin Poupaud as Fernand Labori (1860-1917) – a lawyer

** Vincent Perez as Louis Leblois (1854-1928) – a lawyer

** Mathieu Amalric as Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914) – a handwriting expert

** Vincent Grass as Jean-Baptiste Billot (1828-1907) – a general in the French Army

** Kevin Garnichat as Jules Lauth (1858-1943) – a captain in the French Army

In the drama, the story begins in Paris on 5 January 1895. On this day Alfred Dreyfus is formally and publicly expelled from the French Army.

The decorations of his uniform are torn off – one after the other - and thrown on the ground. With contempt! Finally, he is told to to hand over his military sword, his sabre. The weapon is held up in the air and then ceremoniously broken into two parts and thrown on the ground. With contempt!

Dreyfus is not worthy to be an officer in the French Army! Now when the traitor has been properly expelled, he can be deported to his prison on a remote island, far from France!

And now the honour of France has been restored! Once again, the French Army can be proud of itself!

From this point in time the story moves forward step by step until 1906. On the way there are some flashbacks to earlier events, in particular there are some glimpses from the trial against Dreyfus in 1894.

The story is about Dreyfus, but we do not see much of him in this drama. The main character is George Piquart who is five years older than Dreyfus.

Shortly after the trial of 1894, Piquart is promoted. He is the new director of the army’s secret service which is officially called the Bureau of Statistics in order to hide its true purpose from the outside world.

During the trial of 1894, Piquart was an official observer, but he did not take part in the case, neither the prosecution nor the defence. He cannot forget the case, and as it happens he is soon forced to look into it. Given his new position, he has easy access to the evidence and the documents connected with the case.

Before long, he has a feeling that there is something wrong with the conviction of Dreyfus. He suspects that Dreyfus is innocent! How can he deal with this fact?

In the drama, we follow him as he investigates the case. He studies the evidence. He talks to witnesses. We see how he reacts and we see how the people around him react when he tries to tell them that Dreyfus possibly is innocent.

If Dreyfus is really innocent, how could he be convicted? What about the evidence? Why was Dreyfus convicted of a crime he did not commit? How could this happen? What could be the reason for such a serious miscarriage of justice?

Watch the drama to find the answers to these questions. I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. Therefore my presentation will end here.

What do reviewers say about this historical drama? Here are the results of three review aggregators:

56 per cent = Meta
72 per cent = IMDb

75 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the professional critics)

82 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the general audience)

As you can see, this historical drama was well-received by the professional critics and by the general audience.

On what is a rating based? In most cases the answer to this question is pretty simple. A rating is primarily based on the following factors:

(1) We will look at the story and how it is written
(2) We will look at the actors and how they play their roles

(3) We will look at the cinematography and how it is done

(4) We will listen to the music and how it works

However, in this case there is an extra factor to consider: the director of the movie. Why? Because Roman Polanski is a highly controversial person. He is a fugitive from justice.

Many years ago, while he lived in the US, he was charged with a crime. But immediately before the verdict was given, he left the country. After he left, the court found him guilty. But he was not there anymore. Since then he has lived in self-imposed exile. He moves around but he only visits countries that will not extradite him to the US. If he ever returns to the US, he will be arrested and sent to prison, because he is a fugitive from justice.

When we know this fact about the director, a number of questions arise: is this going to affect our evaluation of his movie? Can we separate the movie from the man? Can we watch the movie and ignore what we know about the director? Are we going to denigrate the product just because the director is regarded as a bad person?

There is an obvious dilemma here. Rachel Donadio has written about this dilemma in The Atlantic of 23 Novcmber 2019 where she says the following:

“Because of the controversy around Polanski, I was wary of seeing An Officer and a Spy. Then I did. And it is excellent.”

I understand what she says and I think she is right. This is a great movie and we should say so, because it is true. Saying that the movie is great does mean that we ignore the controversy surrounding Polanski. It merely means that we can see that this director has created a great movie, no matter who he is and no matter what he did or may have done in the past.

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars or 100 per cent.

PS. This is not the first time the Dreyfus affair has been covered on film. Previous films about the case include the following:

** J’accuse! (1958) (99 minutes) (this is a French movie)

** Prisoner of Honor (1991) (88 minutes) (this is a US television movie)

** L’affaire Dreyfus (1995) (200 minutes) (this is a French television movie)

** The Infamous Dreyfus Affair (1996) (42 minutes) (this is a documentary film made by the History Channel) (the narrator is David Ackroyd) (this film is available on You Tube)

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An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris

Hardcover 2013 - Paperback 2014

The movie is based on this book

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Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935 )

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