The Secret Agent

Eddie plays Vladimir, a Russian.

Click here to read the story (divided into chapters. Vladimir appears in chapters 2 and 10 )


Pictures I stole from Cake or Death:

Secret Agent 1

Secret Agent 2

Secret Agent 3


Plot summary (iMDB):

London of the late 19th century is a haven for political exiles of all sorts - refugees, partisans, anarchists. Verloc has made his living spying for the Russian goverment, an agent provacateur of sorts, while simultaneously providing information to the London police, specifically Chief Inspector Heat. When the new Russian ambassador demands he prove his worth or lose his salary, Verloc sets off a tragic chain of events that involves his pretty young wife Winnie, her retarded brother Stevie, and a figure called the Professor, whose fascination with explosives and destruction makes him the person to call on when Verloc needs a bomb.
Summary written by Gary Dickerson {slug@mail.utexas.edu}

Review... even mentiones Eddie:

'Secret Agent' Operates at High Intensity
by KEVIN THOMAS , TIMES STAFF WRITER
Friday November 8, 1996
"Joseph Conrad's 'The Secret Agent' " from Christopher Hampton is such a dense, faithful and absorbing adaptation of the great writer's 1907 novel about an attempt to blow up the Greenwich Observatory that you must be prepared to pay exceedingly close attention to it or risk losing your way.
A study in character and fate rather than an exercise in suspense, it has a cast as unusual as the film itself, headed by Bob Hoskins, Patricia Arquette, Gerard Depardieu, Robin Williams (billed coyly as George Spelvin) and Christian Bale. It has the same authentic sense of period as Hampton's "Carrington."
We're plunged into a narrow Soho side street on a dark night in 1886. Inside a notably discreet and spacious porn shop, its burly proprietor, Verloc (Hoskins), is conducting a meeting of anarchists as his mother-in-law (Elizabeth Spriggs) is preparing to move from the family living quarters upstairs; a stagecoach awaits her outside.
Although we learn that she no longer wishes to impose upon her kindly son-in-law--and also finds it awkward to invite anyone in for tea, considering the nature of what the shop sells--we never understand why she's moving in the dead of night. But don't let this odd beginning distract you.
For such an ordinary-seeming man, Verloc is leading a complicated life, secretly working as an agent for the Russian Embassy but also informing the London police. Verloc adores his pretty and much younger wife, Winnie (Arquette), who has married him out of a need for security for herself and especially her beloved, slightly retarded brother Stevie (Bale).
You have the feeling that despite the husband's lines of work, life is pretty comfortable for the Verlocs, with Winnie proving to be a concerned and affectionate wife. Then the Russian Embassy's new First Secretary (Eddie Izzard, deliciously nasty), a man of surpassing arrogance, has a new assignment for Verloc, at once stupid and potentially disastrous. Outraged that Britain has become such a haven for radicals, he symbolizes the kind of elitist that the Russian Revolution would overthrow 30 years later.
"The Secret Agent" becomes a study of how individuals cope with calamity as they struggle against fate. Why Verloc would ever involve his easily obedient but scarcely reliable brother-in-law defies comprehension, and it leaves us with the inescapable conclusion that Verloc really is not very bright. At the same time, Winnie proves to be a tiger in a crisis but also fatally naive. Depardieu's Ossipon is key among Verloc's anarchist friends--a man clearly attracted to Winnie--and Williams' Professor, an explosives supplier, is a truly scary proto-fascist.
Hampton knows how to get performances out of his cast, with Hoskins and Arquette excelling in the lead roles as individuals far more vulnerable than either could probably ever realize. Since "The Secret Agent" is a work in which irony constantly compounds irony, you wish that Hampton had considered taking a step back, slowing down a bit and letting it all sink in. As it is, "The Secret Agent" is the kind of film that demands you to grab on to it and hold on for dear life.

Credits:

Bob Hoskins.... Verloc
Patricia Arquette.... Winnie
Gérard Depardieu.... Ossipon
Robin Williams.... The Professor
Jim Broadbent.... Chief Inspector Heat
Christian Bale.... Stevie
Eddie Izzard.... Vladimir
Elizabeth Spriggs.... Winnie's mother
Peter Vaughan.... The Driver
Julian Wadham.... The Assistant Commissioner
Roger Hammond.... Mr. Michaelis
Ralph Nossek.... Yundt
Neville Phillips.... Ticket clerk

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