Triple Agent (film)

Triple Agent is a French dramatic/thriller film, directed by Éric Rohmer in 2004. It runs for 115 minutes.

The Popular Front wins the French general elections of 1936. In Spain, the Civil War begins. Meanwhile, in a Paris apartment, Fiodor Voronin, a retired general of the tsarist army, lives an apparently quiet life with his Greek wife, Arsinoé. He is a deputy at the White Russian Military Union, and he is slated to replace the aging general Dobrinsky soon.

Unbeknownst to his wife and colleagues, he is also a Soviet agent. When Dobrinsky disappears, Voronin is considered a suspect and vanishes without a trace. His wife is tried by the French government, and her reputation is ruined. During the German occupation of Paris, the Germans discover that it is likely that Voronin was murdered by the NKVD after having been smuggled from the Soviet embassy to Red Spain.

The film is based on the true story of White Russian general (and secret Soviet agent) Nikolai Skoblin and his involvement in the disappearance and murder of fellow White Russian general Evgenii Miller.

A convoluted plot is seen that acts as a history lesson in the years of the Popular Front and World War II. Fiodor Vorodin (Serge Renko), a former general in the White Russian army, acts as a double agent between the Soviets and the Nazi secret police. The entire movie is shaped through a common theme of “the opaqueness of human motivations,” ultimately creating a “flawed interpretation of evidence” in creating a love triangle (the quote from Rohmer himself). The secrecy of Fiodor presents an interesting theme that runs its course throughout the entire film. This very secrecy is meant to allow the audience to think and ponder on what exactly is happening. Rohmer claims, ”It’s good for there to be no clear solutions to the questions being posed. It’s much more interesting.”

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