When Luc Besson made ‘Nikita‘ in 1990, he unleashed a veritable avalanche of films whose heroines (or maybe we should say super-heroines) are young and beautiful women who, in extreme and hopeless situations, are recruited by espionage services to be turned into formidable killing machines, for good or bad causes. A television series followed, which at least at first seemed to me to be as good as the film, and other films whose characters function in much the same patterns and plots that follow similar paths. Among those who imitated Luc Besson from ‘Nikita‘ was … Luc Besson. The last time (so far) he did it in was in 2019 with ‘Anna‘. Why did the French director return to this theme and what does he bring new?
Thestory takes place in the final years of the Cold War, roughly between 1985 and 1990. Russia is engaged in a transition process but the KGB continues to be active and recruit new agents, including Anna, a young woman blackmailed into using her physical and intellectual qualities in the service of the motherland. As the promise of being able to return to a normal life after a few years is not respected, Anna easily falls into the trap set by the CIA, which promises her the same thing if she becomes a double agent. Will any of the rival services deliver on their promises? How will Anna manage between the blackmails of the two institutions and between two lovers who are also her direct bosses. You will find out the answer if you see the movie. What can be said is that the road to possible liberation is strewn with many corpses and violent and spectacular, if not very original, action scenes.
What is different about this film and quite successful in my opinion is the way the narrative is organized. We see episodes that can last for hours, days or months of cinematic action and stop at a moment of surprise and suspense. A flash-back gives viewers the explanation of what they saw, presenting the events on the screen from another point of view. The process repeats itself several times and is what makes the cinematic experience interesting and elevates it above most spy action movies. Éric Serra, who composed the musical scores ofmany of Besson‘s films, does a pretty good job here as well. Sasha Luss, who plays the title role, seems to be as beautiful, talented and intelligent as her character. Helen Mirren, with a rather dodgy wig, has fun playing the role of the ‘brain’ of the KGB operations. Luke Evans and Cillian Murphy are OK as spies and lovers who are rivals in every way. ‘Anna‘ is entertainment that will please fans of the genre, but Besson should look to other sources of inspiration for the final part of his career to live up to the successes of his early days.