The Russia House

R

Released Dec 19, 1990

2 hr. 3 min.

Drama

List

70%

20 Reviews

Tomatometer

49%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

While visiting Moscow, British publisher Barley Blair (Sean Connery) learns of a manuscript detailing the Soviet Union's nuclear missile capabilities. British intelligence and the CIA consider the book to contain crucial information and recruit Blair to investigate its editor, Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer). As Blair learns the origin of the manuscript and discovers Russian military secrets, he falls in love with Katya and fights to protect her family.

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Jelisije J

A slow paced realistic espionage cold war love drama that kept me engaged throughout its run time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/11/23

Full Review

Mr P

Astonishing cast, from the sublime to the ridiculous,( take a bow Ken Russell ). Connery is on his very best form. Beautifully shot, great dialogue, very little action.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Crap direction, Crap script, Crap location work, crap casting, crap acting. Boring! Nothing like le Caré!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Never Say Never Say Never Again Again: From The Russia House With Love Stripped of the superheroism, the masculine fantasy, and the geopolitical absurdism (kinda), Sean Connery here dons the mantle of the anti-007, not in the sense that he has become the villain (as he will later in THE AVENGERS) but insofar as the world of le Carré is so different from that of Fleming, eschewing the gadgetry and gallantry and hot-blooded action of the latter with the icy bureaucracy and tedium of actual espionage while replacing one sort of romantic chauvinism for another. Leading an incredible cast—that includes, of all people, Ken Russell, who himself directed one of the great Sixties spy films—Connery turns in one of his finest performances, less the ever-deft Bond, a figure only found in fiction, than he is a bumbling book publisher, not an Übermensch but (just as rare) a merely decent human being who cares not a whit for the ideological machines that, in turn, couldn't care less about him.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

steve d

It all amounts to very little.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It's hard to say what makes this movie so dull - it's not the range of beautiful locations, it's not the charmingly acted character of Barley, and even Michelle Pfeiffer shows some good emotional range. Must be the actual stretched out storyline, which lacks proper espionage thrills and relies on unlikely romance.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

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Fred Schepisi

Director

Sean Connery

Barley

Michelle Pfeiffer

Katya

Roy Scheider

Russell

James Fox

Ned

John Mahoney

Brady

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The Russia House: Official Clip - The Great Lie

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: A-

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Brian Tallerico

UGO

Rated: 3/5

Mar 24, 2007

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

To judge by this film, the life of a Cold War spy consists of sitting for endless hours in soundproof rooms with people you do not particularly like, waiting for something to happen. Sort of like being a movie critic.

Rated: 2/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Connery and Pfeiffer are both excellent, but much of the film’s pleasure comes from watching the consummate pros filling out the roles of various bureaucrats

Rated: 3/4

Feb 8, 2023

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Visually spectacular, and very well acted. [Full review in Spanish]

Nov 11, 2022

Full Review

Alistair Lawrence

Common Sense Media

An unconvincing love story wrapped inside a spying drama that's as gray as a Moscow winter skyline, this John le Carré adaptation is slow, tedious, and instantly forgettable.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 5, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

While visiting Moscow, British publisher Barley Blair (Sean Connery) learns of a manuscript detailing the Soviet Union's nuclear missile capabilities. British intelligence and the CIA consider the book to contain crucial information and recruit Blair to investigate its editor, Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer). As Blair learns the origin of the manuscript and discovers Russian military secrets, he falls in love with Katya and fights to protect her family.

Director: Fred Schepisi
Screenwriter: Tom Stoppard
Production Co: Pathé Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 19, 1990, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $22.6M
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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