The Russia House

"Their love was as dangerous as the secrets they kept."

1990 1h 58m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 342

DramaThrillerRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.

“Their love was as dangerous as the secrets they kept.”

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Cast

Sean Connery
Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott Blair
Michelle Pfeiffer
Katya Orlova
Roy Scheider
Russell
James Fox
Ned
John Mahoney
Brady
Michael Kitchen
Clive
J.T. Walsh
Colonel Quinn
Ken Russell
Walter

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Fred Schepisi
Writers: Tom Stoppard
Languages: English, Russian
Countries: United States of America, Soviet Union

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Soviet Union.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Fred Schepisi, shot by Ian Baker. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Beth Jochem Besterveld shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer and Roy Scheider carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Their love was as dangerous as the secrets they kept.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Fred Schepisi directs. Ian Baker behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Beth Jochem Besterveld cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Soviet Union. Dialogue in English, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

136 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.
3International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Soviet Union.
4Directed by Fred Schepisi, shot by Ian Baker. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Beth Jochem Besterveld shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer and Roy Scheider carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Their love was as dangerous as the secrets they kept.".
9IMDB entry: tt0100530 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 8 themes, including "central intelligence agency (cia)", "based on novel or book", "secret mission", "lisbon, portugal".

The technical file

Cinematography: Ian Baker
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: Beth Jochem Besterveld
Stunt coordinator: Romo Gorrara
Runtime: 118 min · 1h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $21,800,000
Box office: $22,997,992
Return: 105% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Russia House (1990)

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Fred Schepisi

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2020-12-16
★ 6/10
Artistic production with Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, but uninteresting spy story A few years before the fall of the Soviet Union, a boozy English publisher named Barley (Sean Connery) is sent a mysterious manuscript via a beautiful Russian editor named Katya (Michelle Pfeiffer), but it’s intercepted by British intelligence and Barley is coerced into going to Moscow & Leningrad to meet with Katya and the writer of the documents (Klaus Maria Brandauer), which contain technical data that calls into question the quality of the Soviet defense weaponry. Meanwhile both British and American agents (Roy Scheider, James Fox, et al.) surveil Barley’s activities. Based on John le Carre's novel, "The Russia House" (1990) is a spy drama/romance and NOT an action thriller in the mold of James Bond. Its considerable attributes include spectacular (and rare) on-location work in Russia (shot just a couple years before the fall of the USSR), Jerry Goldsmith's sumptuous jazzy score with Branford Marsalis playing soprano sax and, of course, the notable cast. The film is aesthetically pleasing and the love story is effective, especially its culmination, but the spy yarn didn’t interest me. This may because I didn’t utilize the subtitles and therefore missed a lot of the highly accented verbiage, which is a mistake when a movie is dialogue-driven, like this one. The depiction of intelligence work is presumably realistic (as opposed to 007), but static, boring, cynical and with little human decency. Next time I watch it I’ll be sure to use the subtitles. The film runs 2 hour, 3 minutes, and was shot in Moscow & Leningrad and points nearby; as well as Lisbon, Portugal (Barley’s flat); Bowen Island, British Columbia (American Intelligence 'safe house'); and London (book fair & jazz concert), as well as nearby Pinewood Studios. GRADE: C+/B-
CinemaSerf2024-12-08
★ 6/10
Sean Connery at least looks like he's having some fun in this otherwise rather dry adaptation of the John Le Carré tale of Cold War espionage. He's "Barley", a publisher who is recruited by MI5 to investigate a secret document sent from the USSR purporting to itemise their nuclear arsenal. Needless to say both the British and their CIA counterparts are wetting themselves at the very thought of this being real, but that needs to be verified - and that's where they recruit "Barley". He travels to Moscow to meet the author, codenamed "Dante" (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and it's whilst there he becomes increasingly distracted by his "editor" (Michelle Pfeiffer) - a woman whom his source claims never to have met! As the plot develops, it becomes clear that strings are being pulled but also that "Barley" is beginning to think on his own, and not necessarily with his brain either. Will he stick to the plan or will he throw a spanner in the works of his Western handlers? It's a solid enough story but it's padded out far too thinly. There's no chemistry between the characters from Connery and Pfeiffer (and her ropey accent) and though there are plenty of red herrings to fuel the intrigue, that's all delivered in a remarkably sterile and disjointed fashion. Le Carré's stories always focussed on detail and this film rather skirts over that in favour of developing the burgeoning romance, and that rather neuters the sense of suspense that's also not really helped by the blandness of James Fox and Roy Scheider. It's watchable, but nobody's finest two hours.
kevin20192026-09-17
"The Russia House" amply illustrates that the global bestselling author John le Carre wasn't just marvellous at creating intriguing central ideas which would no doubt send both the American and British Security Services into a salivating frenzy (as it does here), but he was also perfectly capable of developing such terrific ideas into convincing novels. This film is based upon his 1989 novel of the same name and it spends a lot of time wrangling extensively over the disputed central issues at hand with a lot of incredibly delicate and realistic negotiating ensuing all of which is absolutely fascinating. The film is also immeasurably helped by Jerry Goldsmith's excellent romantic noir score and by the fact the ending is a very mature and satisfying one which is completely character based and not reliant upon the more simplistic action oriented approach.