Key Cast

Sean Connery, Roy Scheider, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Fox, John Mahoney, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Ken Russell, J.T. Walsh, David Threlfall, Michael Kitchen.

Synopsis

When Barley Blair (Sean Connery) is sent a manuscript that reveals Soviet military secrets, he becomes involved in espionage for his government as he leaves on a mission to Russia in search of the author.

imdb entry

“In The Russia House, there’s a point where Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer meet in the tower, and all those beautiful Russian churches are outside. And you think you’re just watching them, but actually you’re watching five different time zones in the story: you’re watching them and the tensions they’re going through; you’re watching a spy watching them; you’re watching the spy’s report back to his bosses in the form of a tape, a number of days after the event; and then you’re watching two sections of the past, as Michelle Pfeiffer tells a story.”
Fred Schepisi talks to ‘Pop Matters’.

“Schepisi, as always, works with exhilarating craft and intelligence. He has great fun cutting back and forth between the goings-on in Moscow and the frettings of the British and American intelligence higher-ups, who are monitoring everything with their precious tape recorders.”
ew.com review