Red sparrow

The prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater Dominica (the name is changed to Veronika in the Russian dubbing ^[3] ) Yegorova breaks her leg as a result of an unsuccessful performance, because of which she will never be able to go on stage again. Her uncle, an officer of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Ivan Yegorov, provides her with evidence that the fracture was not an accident (out of envy, Dominica’s career end was rigged by another ballerina, Sonya). Dominica takes revenge on Sonya and accidentally kills her. Uncle Dominica offers her niece to solve the situation, as well as the issue of housing and support for her mother (the wife of her late brother) in exchange for help: Dominica should replace the businessman’s phone, and, probably, get in touch with him.

When, after hesitating, Dominika agrees, businessman Ustinov begins to rape her, but he is suddenly killed by an SVR operative, and the heroine herself is taken for interrogation. Having realized that the only way to avoid death as a witness to the murder is to work on the SVR, Dominika agrees to undergo training at a special school of “sparrows” - agents specializing in psychological analysis and manipulation, especially using their attractiveness.

At this time, the CIA agent Nathaniel Nash, curator of the American "mole" in Russia, unsuccessfully conducts an operation and is forced to leave the country. Since his liaison Marble refuses to pass on information to any other agents, Nash is allowed to carry out the last operation in Budapest: he must establish contacts between Marble and the new liaison instead.

Dominica graduates with honors from a special school (thanks in large part to the talent for quickly identifying other people's weaknesses), and General Korchnoi gives the green light to using it to calculate Marble. In Budapest, Dominica quickly becomes credible with Nash, although he knows about her job and her position. Ivan Dominica reports that he plans to calculate the mole with the help of an already prepared operation: her partner Marta is preparing to buy information on the latest missile defense system from the Secretary of Congress. When Martha is killed (Dominica told her how she got into the service), the operation is in jeopardy and she is entrusted with Dominica herself.

Dominica tells Nash that she is ready for re-enrollment: she sabotages the sale of information, and the CIA agrees in return to transfer the same amount to her. Replacing the purchased disks, Dominica successfully transfers them to the Foreign Intelligence Service, but due to the negligence of American operatives, Secretary Bush is dying. Realizing that someone has revealed the seller’s identity to the Americans, the SVR takes Dominica to Moscow, but even after torture, she does not admit that she works for the CIA. When Ivan, guessing what happened, asks her about the reasons, she quotes him his own order: to open the mole by any means, having entered into confidence in the Americans at all costs. Dominica is returned to Budapest, where Nash offers to transport her with her mother to the United States.

When Nash is captured and tortured, Dominic helps him to free himself, and General Korchnoi visits both of them in the hospital. He is Marble, recruited by the CIA after the death of his wife, who was denied treatment, and who hated people who sacrifice others to maintain power. Knowing that he will be calculated soon, Korchnoi offers Dominica to take his place, surrendering him as a mole and becoming the new liaison person for the CIA in the Foreign Intelligence Service.

Dominica offers the director of the SVR to exchange her for a mole. He agrees, but to the surprise of Nash, who was present at the exchange, instead of Korchnoi, the Russian side surrenders Ivan Egorov himself. Thanks to the evidence and a fraudulent account in his name, as well as the information transmitted to him (on the tip of Dominica checked by the SVR and turned out to be misinformation), the director accuses Yegorov of working for the CIA, believing that he is Marble. Immediately after the exchange, Yegorov is killed by a Russian sniper. For the successful completion of the operation, Dominica receives an award - the title of Hero of Russia and a position in the SVR, as Korchnoi planned, after which he continues to communicate with Nash ^[4] .

Movie Differences from a Book

In the final of the book, Veronica accepts the proposal of General Korchnoi, and he dies during the exchange, in the final of the film Ivan Egorov dies.

The production of the film began on January 5, 2017 in Budapest ^{[10] [11] [12]} . Filming began on April 25, 2017 in Bratislava , Slovakia ^[13] . April 29 filming took place in Vienna , Austria ^[14] . On May 3, Jennifer Lawrence was spotted filming at London Heathrow Airport ^[15] .

Initially, 20th Century Fox planned to release the film on November 10, 2017, but due to possible competition with their own production of the classic detective " Murder on the Orient Express, " the premiere was postponed to March 2018.

With an initial budget of $ 69 million (of which $ 15 million is Jennifer Lawrence’s fee ^[16] ), the film raised more than $ 151 million worldwide.

The film received mixed reviews from film critics. On the Rotten Tomatoes website , his score is 47% based on 251 reviews with an average score of 5.6 / 10. The conclusions of American experts boiled down to the fact that even the participation of the Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence does not make the complicated story brighter ^[17] . The Metacritic site gave the film 53 points out of 100 ^[18] .

Jesse Hassenger, a columnist for The AV Club , directed the movie “Four with a Minus”, noting superficial characters and a minimum of action around selected storylines ^[19] . Browser Manola Dargis from The New York Times considered the thriller "entertaining nonsense." ^[20] IndieWire film critic Eric Cohn praised the acting of Jennifer Lawrence and Charlotte Rampling, noting that “the talent on the screen gives the movie a certain saving grace”, but “the film doesn’t stop in time, constantly slipping into dubious scenes of torture, and ending in a discouraging ending” ^21] . Alonso Duralde from TheWrap , California, believes the film is "not smart enough to be interesting, but too serious to be a parody of." ^[22] British film expert Simran Khan from The Guardian newspaper considered the film defiantly sexist, where "the main character constantly degrades, trying to please others" ^[23] .

The average rating of Russian publications was below the global one. According to Anton Dolin , “the film is full of cliches and stereotypes, and the only thing left for the Russian audience is to laugh at the fantasies of the scriptwriters”, “the simultaneous predictability and tension of the intrigue make the spectacle extremely dull” ^[24] .

• The Red Sparrow on the Internet Movie Database