The Operative is a 2019 thriller about a woman recruited by the Mossad to work undercover in Tehran.
The spy genre is a strange little beast, some of the best able to either be nerve-cracking, suspense filled talky nail-biters or tense action-packed thrillers. I’m fans of both though admittedly tend to like those that fall in the first category better, where a smart script can keep me more interested than a run of stunts. With writer and director Yuval Adler‘s latest effort, The Operative, it is the words that matter, Adler adapting a novel by Yiftach Reicher Atir, retaining a page-turner feel about it that works for most of its set up. It is, by its own nature, dialogue-driven, keeping it purposefully-paced, and while much of that is compelling, there is a malaise about it that tempers its potential.
A Mossad operative named Thomas (Martin Freeman) is unexpectedly contacted by a former agent he handled. She is Rachel (Diane Kruger), an especially well-suited spy deep undercover in Iran working to learn more about the country’s nuclear program. She has recently disappeared. Now back in the game, it’s sends her organization into a bit of chaos, Thomas called in for questioning, he speaking with supervisors in trying unravel her past and what she is doing, desperately pouring over his memories of his work in preparing her and her efforts to become embedded as an English teacher in Tehran. In these flashbacks, we learn that she met Farhad (Cas Anvar), a man with his own connections, their relationship conflicting with her mission, and leading Thomas into a labyrinth of uncertainty.
This is a dense story and its better for it, few movies nowadays willing to really keep layering challenges on its audience. There’s a lot happening at its start, Adler beginning slowly before steadily heaping all kinds of twists along the way. It’s not that they aren’t accessible, the good news being that Adler refuses to water it down while managing to still feel just difficult enough to feel tricky. It’s fluid though there’s a bit of a juggling act at play with a number of shifts in time as it recounts two people’s experiences in getting to what happened at the start. There’s no hand-holding, and nor should there be, but it’s also something you don’t want to lose track of, even for a second.
There are a few heavy moments, including an early, shocking act of violence meant to remind us just how harrowing Rachel’s take in all this is, though the movie steers clear of that for most of its run. In fact, a good portion of it centers on the romance between Farhad and Rachel, the two exploring each other and life in Iran. Naturally, he being who we soon learn he is changes a lot about their relationship and puts stress on both their motivations, especially when he’s seen as an opportunity by her people to exploit.
It’s all told in a kind of expository narration as Thomas recounts what he knows, skipping around in time and place as these events unfurl. Freeman is unexpectedly good in a role that seems more suited for a George Clooney type, and Kruger is very effective. However, with so much to get through and Adler intent on draining what he can from every possible facet of the already complex story, the film loses ground in building sustainable momentum. There’s plenty for fans of talky spy movies and a few well-earned jolts of suspense, though it can’t quite keep it all as thrilling as it certainly feel capable of doing.