The Russia House (1990)

The Russia House (1990) is an American spy drama, based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré. It was directed by Fred Schepisi, and starred Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, with Roy Scheider, James Fox, John Mahoney, and Klaus Maria Brandauer in supporting roles. It was filmed on location in the Soviet Union, only the second American motion picture to do so before the dissolution of the socialist state (the first being the 1988 film Red Heat).

Bartholomew "Barley" Scott Blair (Sean Connery), the head of a British publishing firm, is on a business trip to Moscow. He attends a writers' retreat where he speaks of an inevitable New World Order on its way and an end to tension with the West. Attentively listening is a man called Dante (Klaus Maria Brandauer), who wants to be convinced that Barley means what he says. It transpires that Dante has secretly written a book about the Soviet Union's true nuclear missile capabilities. A few months later, unable to locate Barley at a sales fair, a Russian woman named Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer) asks another publishing company's representative, Niki Landau (Nicholas Woodeson), to pass along a very important manuscript. Niki sneaks a look at the book and delivers it to British government authorities instead. British intelligence agents and American CIA agents track Barley to his holiday flat in Lisbon, then interrogate him to see how he knows Katya. They realize he is as much in the dark as they are, so Ned (James Fox), gives him some fundamental training as a spy. The British MI6 agents realize that the manuscript is of vital importance to the USA, so they start working with the CIA, with both agencies wanting Barley to work on their behalf. Barley returns to the USSR to seek out Dante and confirm that he is genuine. He meets with Katya, with whom he is instantly smitten. Through her, he confirms that Dante is a brilliant scientist whose actual name is Yakov. He also denies to Katya's face that he is a spy. At the first phase, the British run the operation, while informing the CIA on its results. The CIA team in the United States, headed by Russell (Roy Scheider), is concerned because the book states that the Soviet nuclear missile program is in very bad shape, and therefore there's no real reason for an arms race to continue. Katya sets up a face-to-face meeting with "Dante," going to great lengths to avoid being followed. Barley explains that the sensitive manuscript is now in the hands of British and American authorities. Yakov feels betrayed, but Barley convinces him that the book can still be published, which was the author's objective in the first place. Dante is clearly disappointed by Barley's trust of the authorities, explaining that government people (of whatever country) are only driven by their own interests, not caring about simple people. Nevertheless, Dante gives Barley another volume to the manuscript after Barley assures him that he's sympathetic to the cause. Impressed by the additional volume, Russell's boss Brady (John Mahoney) and a U.S. military officer named Quinn (J.T. Walsh) personally question Barley, wanting to be certain where his loyalties lie. Russell then travels to London to monitor Barley's progress. He declares that he would help the British operation out of a true ideological belief in Glasnost, although this would not be good news to his "customers" of the weapons industry, who need an arms race for continued prosperity. Convinced that Dante's manuscripts are truthful, the CIA and MI6 come up with a list of questions (a so-called "shopping list"), which is meant to extract as much information of the USSR as Dante could provide. On that point, irregularities begin to emerge, but the joint British-American team rationalizes them, except for Barley's "Russia House" handler Ned, who senses something amiss. Barley, by now fully in love with Katya, wants to keep nothing from her; he admits that he is spying. Katya, in return, confirms that Yakov is not acting like himself, fearing that he may be under KGB observation or control. She gives Barley the address where Yakov will be staying when he is in Moscow. Barley is under full British-American surveillance as he takes the shopping list to Yakov's apartment. Ned suddenly concludes that the Soviets know all about the operation and that they only let it run because they want to put their hands on the list. He realizes that if they get the questions, they will know exactly what the British and Americans know - just based on what they were asking. Ned is now convinced that Barley has made a deal to turn over the questions to the USSR. Russell disagrees with Ned completely and instructs the assignment to proceed as planned. The British-American team expects the meeting with Yakov to last 2â??3 hours, but when Barley doesn't return after 7 hours, Russell must admit that he was wrong. They must now do damage control, pretending that the questions were deliberately false. Barley, meanwhile, has left a note for Ned. He explains that during a prearranged phone call to Katya, he used a code word to let her know that Yakov has been captured or is dead, and that her life is also in danger. Barley has traded the shopping list to the Russians in exchange for the freedom of Katya's family. He admits to the British and Americans that it might be unfair, but as he writes to Ned: "You shouldn't open other people's letters." Barley returns to his flat in Lisbon, where he waits for a ship to dock that brings Katya and her family to begin a new life with him.