Rogue Agent
James Norton and Gemma Arterton star in a low-key, absorbing drama about deception and manipulation.
The card: James Norton and Gemma Arterton
It’s an oft-cited question. How well do you really know those closest to you? At least, those that don’t make up your immediate family. But even then…
Rogue Agent, inspired by a true story, marks the feature directorial debut of the filmmaking duo Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn. The good thing about the directors is that they have total trust in their screenplay, which they co-wrote with Michael Bronner, from his own article ‘Chasing Agent Freegard.’ In fact, the worst thing about the film is its title, suggesting something cheap and generic. But it is so much more than that and the moniker Chasing Agent Freegard would have served the movie so much better.
Events begin in 1993, in Shropshire, when, in an articulate voice-over, Gemma Arterton explains the pre-requisites of being a spy. When recruiting, she says, make eye contact just long enough to register your mark’s eye colour, acquire the ability to hide in plain sight and learn how to read people. During the onslaught of the IRA bombings of England in the 1990s, the MI5 recruited many freelance spies to help inform on suspected terrorists. Moving forward nine years, to 2002, we find Alice Archer (Gemma Arterton) working as a high-powered litigations solicitor in London. Meanwhile, Robert Hansen (James Norton), works as a car salesman or, as he prefers, as “a showroom philosopher.” Improbably, both appear to be single and fancy-free. We, and Alice, learn that Robert is teetotal, has terrible taste in art, couldn’t hurt a fly, is unpredictable and utterly charming. Alice is independent, suspicious and highly-strung, yet, when she and he bump into each other on the street one day, there is an animal attraction. But it’s Robert’s knack at balancing a constant string of curveballs that keeps Alice hooked. As she says, only marginally exasperated, “you are so fucking random!”
Neither protagonist nor we seem to know where things are going. But thanks to the directors’ innate confidence in their material, they refrain from the usual tricks one might encounter in a Netflix quickie (fast cuts, pounding music, jump scares, unnatural exposition). Besides the pitch-perfect charisma of the two stars, the film unfolds with a leisurely pulse, exerting the tension almost imperceptibly. So, while initially one might accuse Rogue Agent of being little more than a decent TV movie, its subterranean virtues start to surface on a kinetic and even human level. Of course, it’s all too unbelievable to be true – only that it all actually happened. It’s a jolly gripping ride.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: James Norton, Gemma Arterton, Marisa Abela, Sarah Goldberg, Shazad Latif, Jimmy Akingbola, Freya Mavor, Edwina Findley, Julian Barratt, Rob Malone, Peter Heenan, Michael Fenton Stevens, Charlotte Avery, Simon Chandler, Melissa Collier, Martin Walsh.
Dir Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn, Pro Michael Bronner, Kitty Kaletsky, Robert Taylor and Herbert L. Kloiber, Ex Pro Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn, Screenplay Michael Bronner, Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn, Ph Larry Smith, Pro Des Catrin Meredydd, Ed Mags Arnold, Music Hannah Peel, Costumes Emily-Rose Yiaxis.
Rabbit Track Pictures/Great Point Media/The Development Partnership/Night Train Media-Netflix.
115 mins. UK. 2021. UK Rel: 27 July 2022. US Rel: 12 August 2022. No Cert.
