Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy (arriving 09/19 at the Laemmle Royal and Town Center) is about the infamous Dreyfus Affair, in which Captain Alfred Dreyfus—a Jewish officer in the French army—was unduly convicted of treason and condemned to life on Devil’s Island, creating a scandal that shook 19th-century France.
The film begins with a powerful recreation of Dreyfus’s public humiliation in the courtyard of the École Militaire, wherein Dreyfus (played with quiet intensity by Louis Garrel) becomes the unwitting symbol of a nation’s prejudice. Yet the story quickly shifts its focus to Colonel Georges Picquart (Jean Dujardin), the intelligence officer who’s been appointed to oversee the very department that built the case against Dreyfus. Initially a loyal soldier and casual anti-Semite, Picquart gradually comes to doubt the evidence against Dreyfus. When he discovers that crucial documents actually point to another officer, he faces an impossible choice: protect his career by remaining silent, or risk everything in the pursuit of justice.
From that point forward, An Officer and a Spy unfolds as a gripping political thriller. Dujardin delivers a commanding performance as Picquart, navigating the character’s transformation from opportunist to reluctant truth-teller, while behind the camera, Polanski and longtime cinematographer Pawel Edelman
bring 19th-century Paris vividly to life, from the smoky interiors of its cafés to the solemn grandeur of its military tribunals.
Based on Robert Harris’s bestselling novel, the screenplay—co-written by Harris and Polanski—mostly focuses on Picquart’s personal journey, transforming a complex political crisis into a more human tale of conscience and resistance. This approach renders the film highly accessible, though it does sideline other
dimensions of the affair, such as the mobilization of France’s Jewish community, the pivotal role of Dreyfus’s family, and the broader wave of anti-Semitism that swept the country in its wake. What remains is an intimate portrait of one man’s struggle against an entrenched system determined to protect
itself at any cost.
As the film returns to screens, new viewers have the chance to revisit not only a pivotal moment in French history, but their own notions about the allocation of such concepts as justice and forgiveness. More than a century later, the Dreyfus Affair continues to resonate as a cautionary tale, reminding us of the dangers of prejudice, the costs of institutional corruption, and the courage it takes for one individual to confront them.
“One of Polanski’s finest pictures” – Roger Ebert
“[The film] largely couches the Dreyfus Affair into a character-driven story of heroes and villains.” – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times