''The Spy'' () is a 2012 Russian

spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a film genre, genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many Jame ...

, an adaptation of

Boris Akunin Grigori Chkhartishvili (; ka, გრიგორი ჩხარტიშვილი), better known by his pen name Boris Akunin (, born 20 May 1956), is a Georgian and Russian writer residing in the United Kingdom. He is best known as a write ...

's novel ''The Spy Novel'' ( Шпионский роман). It was directed by Alexey Andrianov, the film stars

Danila Kozlovsky Danila Valeryevich Kozlovsky (; born 3 May 1985) is a Russian actor and director. His most famous roles in films include Vampire Academy and Soulless, as well as the TV series Vikings. During his career he achieved international popularity in E ...

and

Fyodor Bondarchuk Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk ( ; born 9 May 1967) is a Russian film director, actor, producer and TV host. He is also the founder of Art Pictures Studio, a production company. He specializes in action movies, war movies, and science fiction ...

. Akunin adapted his own novel. It had one of the largest film budgets in Russian history.

Plot

It is 1941, months before the German invasion of Soviet Russia. The two protagonists,

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

officers Dorin and Oktyabrsky, are hunting a German

Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...

spy in Moscow. They believe their success might reveal

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's plans and the exact date of invasion. It is implied that Dorin is a distant relative of

Erast Fandorin Erast Petrovich Fandorin () is a fictional 19th-century Russian detective and the hero of a series of Russian historical detective novels by Boris Akunin. The first Fandorin novel (''The Winter Queen'', Russian: ''Азазель'') was publishe ...

, the most popular character of Akunin's books.

Cast

as Yegor Dorin, State Security Officer *

as Alexey Oktyabrsky, Senior Major of State Security, Dorin's boss * Anna Chipovskaya as Nadezhda 'Nadya' *

Viktoriya Tolstoganova Viktoriya Viktorovna Tolstoganova (; born 24 March 1972) is a Russian film and theater actress. Biography Viktoriya Tolstoganova was born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Born on March 24, 1972, in Moscow in the family of an engineer and ...

as Iraida Petrakovich *

Sergey Gazarov Sergey Ishkanovich Gazarov (, ; born January 13, 1958) is a Russian and former Soviet actor and filmmaker of Armenian origin. He has been the art director of the Moscow Satire Theatre from 2021 to 2024. Biography Gazarov was born in Baku, Sov ...

Lavrenty Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

Vladimir Epifantsev Vladimir Georgievich Epifantsev (; born 8 September 1971, Moscow, USSR) is a Russian theatre and cinema actor, filmmaker, television presenter and music video director. Biography Epifantsev graduated from the acting faculty of the Boris Shchuki ...

as senior security lieutenant Kogan *

Andrey Merzlikin Andrey Ilyich Merzlikin (; born 24 March 1973) is a Russian film and theater actor. Early life Andrey Merzlikin was born in Kaliningrad near Moscow. In the first education – radio engineer of space engineering, then earned a degree in econom ...

as radio operator Karpenko *

Viktor Verzhbitsky Viktor Alexandrovich Verzhbitsky (; born 21 September 1959) is an Uzbekistani-Russian film and stage actor. He is well known for playing mobsters, businessmen, and villains and he is well known for playing the role of Zavulon in the 2004 film ''N ...

as Lezhava,

officer * Ekaterina Melnik as Lyubov Serova * Dmitry Nazarov as Nadya's dad * Mikhail Filippov as

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Oleksiy Gorbunov Oleksiy Serhiyovych Horbunov (; born on 29 October 1961) is a Ukrainian film, television and stage actor. He has been named an Honored Artist of Ukraine (1991) and a People's Artist of Ukraine (2016).

as Selentsov, Vasser's Connector * Boris Kamorzin as Lyalin, chauffeur of the NKVD * Alexander Kuznetsov as NKVD officer * Eckie Hoffman as

* Edgar Bölke as Admiral

Wilhelm Canaris Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a admiral (Germany), German admiral and the chief of the ''Abwehr'' (the German military intelligence, military-intelligence service) from 1935 to 1944. Initially a supporter of Ad ...

* Felix Schultess as driver of Admiral

* Maksim Maltsev as Golovasty

Crew

* Director - Alexey Andrianov * Producer - Leonid Vereshchagin, Sergey Shumakov * Screenplay by

Vladimir Valutskiy Vladimir Ivanovich Valutsky () (25 September 1936 — 14 April 2015) was a Soviet and Russian screenwriter. Between 1964 and 2013 he wrote and co-wrote 60 screenplays. He was awarded the Art Worker of the RSFSR in 1987. Early years Vladimir was bo ...

* Production designer - Viktor Petrov * Cinematographer - Denis Alarcon-Ramirez * Stunt Coordinator - Valeriy Derkach * Editor (TV version) - Luca Paracels

Production

The film was based on the plot of

's ''The Spy Novel'' written in 2005. In the tango scene, during a pause, the hero of

clicks his orchestra loudly with his fingers. Although the hand is in a glove, and it is impossible to make such a sound in it.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

, some scenes had to be shot not in the Russian capital, but in the city of

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Versions

The duration of the full television version is more than 4 series of 45 minutes.

Release

The film was released in the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

on April 5, 2012, by

Central Partnership Central Partnership () is a Russian film distribution and production company founded in 1995. The distributor was acquired by Russian gas company Gazprom in 2014. History Central Partnership started as a TV content distributor in 1995–2000. ...

. The closed premiere took place on April 2.

Reception

The movie was a moderate success at the box office grossing $4.588.176 (258.479.483

ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...

s) against a budget of 192.000.000

Critical response

From an article about the film ''The Spy'' in the journal

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...

The Russian film ''The Spy'', sold in the USA for display on the VOD system (video on demand), in just a few days at the HULU video service, came out in number of views to 14th place among 2.5 thousand European, American and Asian films. This is an extraordinary result, commented on the information of Eleanor Pomegranate, representing Loskino in Los Angeles.

From the review of the film ''The Spy'' in the newspaper

Gazeta.Ru ''Gazeta.Ru'' () is a Russian news site based in Moscow. In 2012, ownership of ''Gazeta.Ru'' was transferred to Alexander Mamut. In 2020, the state-owned company Sberbank became the sole owner of ''Gazeta.Rus holding company, Rambler Media ...

''The Spy'' is the first successful adaptation of Boris Akunin's prose, placed in the only comic book space suitable for her.

From the review of the film ''The Spy'' in the newspaper Trud:

Alexei Andrianov's fantasy turned out to be ironic, rich, full of chic and funny episodes. Where, for example, there is a wonderful Oktyabrsky tango with a movie star Lyubov Serova (Ekaterina Melnik) who was beaten off by him in a restaurant for unsympathetic youths - and in this scene the exquisitely self-righteous hero Bondarchuk evokes about the same feelings as the imperial Moscow invented by Andrianov.

References

External links

* * *
The Spy
' at

Eurochannel Eurochannel is a world television channel focused on European culture and lifestyle through movies, series and other programs dedicated to European culture. Eurochannel broadcasts in original audio with subtitles in English, French, German, Ital ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spy 2012 films 2010s Russian-language films 2010s Russian films 2010s spy action films 2010s spy thriller films 2012 action thriller films 2012 action adventure films 2010s action war films 2010s historical action films 2010s historical adventure films Dieselpunk films Russian spy action films World War II spy films Films set in 1941 Films set in the Soviet Union Films set in Moscow Films scored by Yuri Poteyenko Russian action war films Russian action thriller films Russian action adventure films Russian historical action films Russian thriller films Films about Adolf Hitler Russian historical adventure films Films shot in Belarus Russian World War II films Films with screenplays by Vladimir Valutsky Russian-language action adventure films Russian-language thriller films Films based on works by Boris Akunin Films based on Russian novels