''Shadow Dancer'' is a 2012

political thriller film A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The st ...

directed by James Marsh and scripted by

Tom Bradby Thomas Matthew Bradby (born 13 January 1967) is a British journalist and novelist who currently presents the ''ITV News at Ten''. He was previously political editor for ITV News from 2005 to 2015, and presented ''The Agenda with Tom Bradby'', a ...

, based on his 1998 novel of the same name. The film premiered at the

2012 Sundance Film Festival The 2012 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 until January 29, 2012 in Park City, Utah. 64 short films were selected for the festival from 7,675 submissions, including 27 international shorts from 3,592 submissions. Non-competition ...

, and it was screened out of competition at the

62nd Berlin International Film Festival The 62nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 19 February 2012. British film director Mike Leigh was the President of the Jury. The first five films to be screened in the competition were announced on 19 December 2011. Am ...

in February 2012.

Plot

In the opening scene, set in 1973,

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

in Northern Ireland result in the death of Collette's younger brother when they are children. The film jumps forward to 1993

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. After a failed bombing attack in London, Collette is arrested and offered a choice by an MI5 officer, Mac, who is assigned as her handler. Either she spends 25 years in jail, thus losing everything she loves, including her young son, or, she becomes an informant for

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

, spying on her own family. Collette agrees to inform. In return, Mac offers her a new identity after working for MI5. Soon Mac learns that his superior Kate Fletcher is using Collette to protect Fletcher's own

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

inside the Irish organization. Mac tries to find the identity of this informer to protect Collette. Additionally, a romantic interest develops between Mac and Collette, evidenced by a passionate kiss shared at their weekly meeting at a quay. Meanwhile, Kevin, an IRA enforcer, realizing a mole exists within Collette's family, gets closer and closer to Collette. Mac's superiors refuse to remove her from danger. Finally, Kevin concludes that either Collette or her brother Connor is the mole. Gerry, Collette's oldest brother, gives passive consent for Kevin to interrogate Connor and Collette. Connor is tortured, but gives no information, and just as Connor is about to be executed, Kevin calls it off. At the same time, Mac breaks into secret archives and determines that Fletcher's mole is Collette's mother, confirming that he has been used surreptitiously by his superiors, who were only interested in Collette as a shield for her mother's treachery. Mac makes a phone call to Collette's mother, informing her that the IRA will be coming to pick up Collette, and that Collette was recruited to protect her. However, when Kevin arrives to pick up Collette, her mother goes outside and enters Kevin's car. Later, her dead body is found, showing that Kevin had determined the mother was the mole. Mac makes a phone call to Collette and apparently acting alone, outside the permission of his superiors, informs her that he can get her and her son out of Northern Ireland. Mac arrives at their usual meeting spot the quay, but Collette does not come. When he answers his car phone, the car explodes, killing him. The film ends with Collette and her son getting into a car with her brother Connor. Connor tells Collette that "it's done" and they leave.

Cast

Andrea Riseborough Andrea Louise Riseborough (born 20 November 1981) is an English actress and producer. She made her film debut with a small part in ''Venus'' (2006), and has since appeared in more prominent roles in '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008), '' Never Let Me Go ...

as Collette McVeigh *

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series ''Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

as Mac *

Gillian Anderson Gillian Leigh Anderson ( ; born August 9, 1968) is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series ''The X-Files'', ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film '' The House of Mirt ...

as Kate Fletcher *

Aidan Gillen Aidan Murphy (born 24 April 1968), better known as Aidan Gillen (), is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of three Irish Film & Television Awards and has been nominated for a British Academy Television Award, a British Independent Film Award, ...

as Gerry McVeigh *

Domhnall Gleeson Domhnall Gleeson (; born 12 May 1983) is an Irish actor and screenwriter. He is the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, with whom he has appeared in a number of films and theatre projects. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts from Dublin Inst ...

as Connor McVeigh *

Brid Brennan Brigid ( , ; meaning 'exalted one' from Old Irish),Campbell, MikBehind the Name.See also Xavier Delamarre, ''brigantion / brigant-'', in ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise'' (Éditions Errance, 2003) pp. 87–88: "Le nom de la sainte irlandais ...

as Ma *

David Wilmot David Wilmot (January 20, 1814 – March 16, 1868) was an American politician and judge. He served as Representative and a Senator for Pennsylvania and as a judge of the Court of Claims. He is best known for being the prime sponsor and epon ...

as Kevin Mulville *

Michael McElhatton Michael McElhatton (born 12 September 1963) is an Irish actor and writer. He is best known for playing the role of Roose Bolton in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''. He joined the series as a guest star in the second season, and continued ...

as Liam Hughes *

Stuart Graham Leslie Stuart Graham (born 9 January 1942) is a British former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Saloon car racing specialist. He is the son of the 1949 500cc world champion, Leslie Graham. Graham started racing in 1961 on a 125 cc ...

as Ian Gilmour * Martin McCann as Brendan O'Shea

Reception

, the film holds approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on reviews with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "A tense, thought-provoking thriller, ''Shadow Dancer'' is bolstered by sensitive direction from James Marsh and a terrific performance from Andrea Riseborough." According to

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which sampled the opinions of 23 critics and calculated an average score of 71 out of 100, the film received "generally favorable reviews". Film magazine ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'', giving it a score of 4 out of 5 stars, called it "an intelligent and emotionally charged spy drama". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' called it "a slow-burning but brilliant thriller about an IRA sympathiser forced to become an informant by MI5".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shadow Dancer 2012 films 2010s spy films 2012 thriller films British spy films British thriller films Films from Northern Ireland Irish thriller films Films about dysfunctional families Films about siblings Films about the Irish Republican Army Films about The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Films set in 1973 Films set in 1993 Films set in Belfast Films set in London Films shot in Ireland Films shot in England Films based on British novels Films based on thriller novels Films directed by James Marsh BBC Film films 2012 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films Paramount Pictures films Films scored by Dickon Hinchliffe English-language thriller films