User Reviews (140)

Add a Review

  • There are two storylines in this movie which join up at the end. Strict concentration is required to follow the story. Not a movie which you can switch off the brain.

    The first ten minutes is a bit of a bore fest, however thereafter it becomes mildly intriguing. It's one of those films where you kind of enjoy it but not a movie where you decide to watch again.

    For those who are complaining about the ending (no spoilers), it's open to interpretation as to what happens going forward. Another words, the story continues. It could produce a sequel.

    Overall, a decent spy movie. Seen better. Seen worse.
  • Excellent slow boil espionage thriller. Flawless performances, brilliant screenplay and a slap in the face to expected norms.
  • Good film, YES you have to pay attention. The first half of the film is excellent , it gets choppy and the narrative nearly goes off the rails.

    There s a key moment in the film when the handler meets the main character's father, "The liberal Englishman academic", who is horrified of the thought of Israel. This is a position I have never seen said out loud in film or print by WESTERN media. Its tectonic. I was really surprised because Israel is an artifice, (its just no one admits it).

    The acting is amazing as usual Martin Freeman steals the movie (he has nearly taken over from Phillip Seymour Hoffman) , and. Diane Kruger is EXCELLENT !
  • Warning: Spoilers
    My husband and I were on the edge of our seats loving all aspects of this film. The acting, story, weaving present with past events. Really complex characters and no easy answers when it comes to opposing countries and complicated cultures. This movie refused to try to convince you that choosing a side is easy. And then they messed it up in the last 10 minutes!! Just pick an ending!! Kill the couple or let them escape to somewhere together. But they just left everything like they had suddenly run out of film in the middle of a scene.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    I wouldn't say waste of time and really enjoyed the movie but if there's a specific ending of the actress and the Iranian entrepreneur would be better to me😅
  • sorceress230 December 2019
    Warning: Spoilers
    This film simply ends. It has a very long and involved plot, but there is no resolution at all.
  • zahraaerfani20 September 2019
    This was the first movie which had real scenes of Iran. Streets, people, accents, culture every thing was completely accurate. If you don't know anything about Iran and iranian people, you can trust every thing you watch in this movie. Of course some small details in streets, wasn't quite the same, but it was close. Any way I think it is underrated and I don't understand why. It's not boring and I enjoyed watching it.
  • When a young woman is recruited by the Mossad, she is sent to Tehran to work undercover. However she soon warms to the place and people and this may risk not only her career but also the plans of her employers. The Operative is one of those slow spy thrillers, it takes its time to build the characters and attempts are made to connect audiences to Diane Kruger's character. However the actual presentation of the story has some real pacing issues where I lost the plot many times. I get that this is meant to be a character driven film. But film makers such as Polanski (Chinatown) and Sydney Pollack (Three Days of the Condor) have shown that the plot can take a backseat for characters. But there was still considerable amount of strings being pulled in the background to make it work. The stories were complex because there were many details that need to be uncovered. The Operative is convoluted because there is very little within the story and therefore the film makers try to hide that by dragging scenes out. By having scenes that are completely pointless. Diane Kruger is an extremely talented actress and this may actually be her best performance of her career. Her character is relatable to audiences but mysterious for them to ask the question who she really is. The rest of the cast feels rather wasted with other players including Martin Freeman, pop in and out of the picture. The movie on a technical level is competent but nothing shows of a unique vision. This makes The Operative feel like a generic spy caper that isn't even exciting. Perhaps if you browse by this film on Netflix and have nothing else to do, The Operative might be a film for that occasion. Otherwise, no recommendation from me.
  • Kirpianuscus19 November 2021
    In essence, a decent spy film. Interesting, in my case, for Diane Kruger and Martin Freeman. The end can be the most satisfactory. A film about Iran, with not so bad romance story and not the worst portrait of independent woman. Good acting, decent crafted story .
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Why is it that every single CIA/MI6/Moussad movie is the same? 1. An operative wants out. 2. Their handler tells them it's dangerous. 3. The agent refuses to do their job, so the bosses get mad. 4. The handler ends up helping the agent, giving away his own job/life/freedom so that the protege can escape.

    This movie is no different. I don't get the appeal of trained spies suddenly growing a conscience, yet it happens in all of these films. Krueger isn't bad as the operative. Tim from the Office is a bit of a stretch as a spy/handler. The guy playing the Iranian boyfriend was excellent. The rest? We don't even know who they were. Just some spy bosses without names.
  • merlinbiggs12 September 2019
    Good Cast. But the whole film built up to a climax that never happened. Ultimately dissapointing.
  • I think this movie shows relatively realistic image of Iran , Iranian people and clash between Iran and Israel. As an Iranian I enjoyed the movie. unlike some of similar movies about Iran , all Iranian characters are good hearted people with no Iranian interrogators or such. also I like that -despite having Israeli production- the involvement of Mossad on Iranian scientist assassination and sabotaging Iran's nuclear program is depicted without hesitation. Acting was good and Iran's streets and atmosphere shown believable and almost perfect ... there is no Opel Astra police cars or old Volvo Station wagons in Iran though. I gave is 8 of 10.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    This was an excellent film, well acted and carefully crafted - but ruined by a nothing ending. Made a complete mockery of the previous 2 hours.

    Would have given a 9 but could only manage a 7 with such a disappointing ending.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    The first half hour I didn't switch it off because of the great performances. Then the build-up reached the level of "OK, Interesting". By the conclusion I was totally involved and the movie was headed for 8 stars by me.

    Then, at the most important moment, the screen went to black, suspense music still continuing, carrying my involvement with it and I was sure the black was just another device leading to revelations that would finally answer the important questions.

    Instead, we got the end credits.

    What happened to the rest of the movie? I want to see it. Where is it? Did the Mossad make it "disappear"?
  • When a person is recruited to be a spy, agent, double agent, undercover to do the espionage job for certain organizations, agencies, or countries, he or she must have something either good or bad spotted by the recruiters. The normal scenario when and how that person was recruited, usually a college graduate, not just city college graduate, but an ivy league graduate with high I.Q. or something. Or, a guy who was working for the enemy country's intelligence organization; a guy either carried a deep resent against his or her own country, or he or she did something that was highly treasonable but was unfortunately discovered by the enemy intelligence organization, so he or she was blackmailed, coerced, threatened to become an spy or agent to collect damaging information and pass them to the recruiter or the handler.

    But unfortunately, the woman in this movie seemed to have nothing to do with all of it. Why she agreed to be a spy for the Israelis? She got nothing hateful against Iran, she got no personal agenda against Iran, she did not particularly love Israel either. Neither she did the espionage works for Israel just because she got some financial problems and needed the money. The Israelis didn't pay her. So there's no motive or agenda for her to do a free job for the Israelis. And even ridiculous yet was she did not trained by the Israelis to be a spy. She's not qualified a bit to be a spy.

    So what's the leverage the Israeli MOSSAD got on her? What's the collateral means that she'd do anything that the Israeli asked her to do? They actually needed her, so why they were so harsh on this volunteering woman who did free espionage dirty works for them. They should be very humble, very kind, even very grateful to her. But what we saw in this movie, all the Mossad Israelis seemed to be very rude, very vicious, very unkind to her. So why she'd have to take all those craps and still did the jobs for them? "I owe you nothing! So what's in it for me?" Any normal person would have asked the obvious question, but not this woman. She still did all the puppet jobs for the Israelis. It simply not logic enough. How could these viciously, unkindly, ungratefully Israelis took granted of her, and forced her to do the free service? There's no contract between them, unless she was threatened by them to do the job or else. What a bunch of loaded craps in this ridiculous scenario?

    If without a tangible motive, reason, belief, faith, hatred, or whatever, there's no way she could do the espionage job for the Israelis. Not possible at all. When the basic motive to be a free lancer spy for the Israelis was missing, there's no incentive or passion or any loyalty needed or required to do such works for the Israelis. She even didn't thought to use condoms when she decided to have sexual relationship with the Iranian guy. Her liking and love to this Iranian guy was more realistic and personal, it's more romantic than the espionage job. She did have feelings toward this guy. I don't know about the original novel that was adapted into this movie, but the author of that book obviously didn't have any basic logic if this movie was faithfully adapted from it.

    Both Diane Kruger and Martin Freeman are great actors, but they just followed the lousy script to act out and act along. They were on a one-way street to the end of this movie. What a pathetic way to get involved in this brainless movie.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    "The Operative" is not a great film, but it has an intriguing central character in Rachel, the spy with a will of her own.

    In a joint enterprise of British intelligence and the Mossad, Rachel is sent to Iran via Germany in order to disrupt Iran's attempt to build a nuclear bomb. She infiltrates a legitimate company that is selling parts to the Iranian government for a nuclear arsenal. Rachel helps to ensure that the parts are defective.

    Uncharacteristic of any good spy, Rachel becomes personally involved with the manager of the parts company. She has an affair with him and comes to love him. It is never made clear if she becomes pregnant, but she at one point was seen visiting an abortion clinic. Slowly, the action-picture, spy saga turns into a romance!

    Rachel's handlers become uneasy and want to pull her from the project. She tries to turn the tables on them. She has one loyal supporter in the man who originally recruited her. The best drama of the film comes within the final fifteen minutes. Yet the film's ending was unsatisfactory, and the structure of the film was complicated by different time frames. When the long flashback sequence finally comes to an end, the film picks up steam momentarily.

    Many viewers will be put off by the slow pace, the convoluted plot, and many unpleasant characters. The most interesting part of the film was the romantic connection between Rachel and her Iranian lover. But it is a shame that the audience was left hanging on that thread with no resolution.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Story and characters had me all the way but no thought put into the ending? Maybe they were hoping for a sequel? Still, deserves a 7, good try.
  • ctoltesi26 December 2019
    Decent movie although slow-paced.

    The credits rolled just before the climax of the plot.

    This is the equivalent of a sentence fragment... you'll want your two hours back.
  • Director Y. Adler brings novel - The English Teacher, to the screen. The movie is basically a solidly crafted spy thriller about a woman recruited by the Israeli intelligence agency to work undercover in Tehran. The tale itself - of the spy who got in too deep and let their emotions best them - is one as old as the spy thriller genre, unfortunately the movie doesn't bring a lot of new or fresh 'things' to the table.

    Martin Freeman plays nicely a British Jewish man in Germany as Mossad agent who recruits very good multilingual Diane Kruger's newbie to go undercover in Iran. in that regard, "The Operative" tries to set up a friendship between Thomas (Freeman) and Rachel (Kruger), but that dynamic never truly shines on screen. The film's biggest problem is that despite being billed as a thriller, it isn't exactly, well, thrilling. Also, "The Operative" isn't enough fast-paced as spy movie, yet there is enough going on to keep your attention for the two-hour run time. Actually, film is more an espionage tale that's more John LeCarre than 007, with a complexity of plotting that might make viewers desire a second viewing.

    Rating: 7- (because I love spy movies)
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Rachel works officially as an English teacher in Tehran, but she is actually a local operative agent in the pay of the Mossad. In this respect, she summarily executes missions without really understanding neither the why nor the who: kill a Russian John Doe within an elevator, copy files from a computer server, import explosive charges in Iran, observe the comings and goings of an Iranian minister from the terrace of a bistro ... until her consciousness reaches saturation and forces her to stop.

    With The Operative (2019), Yuval Adler delivers a simple and well-interpreted spy film, especially with the excellent Diane Kruger. In a way, her character of Rachel reminds me of Meursault in L'Étranger (Albert Camus, 1942). But the film is excessively messy with manifold flashbacks as numerous as irritating. Overall, I had a hard time being empathetic with this Rachel. Despite undeniable qualities, this film frustrated me. As a synthesis: 4/5 of 10.

    PS: Knowing that the purpose of a coded telephone conversation is to not attract attention of a hypothetical agent of the local counterintelligence services (and in case of failure, to offer a maximal misunderstanding of the conversation), thus with a spy movie beginning with a coded phrase such as « my father is dead, again », it is better not to expect a masterpiece.
  • The best or most action packed was the last 10 minutes of the move which just ended without any real closure. If the movie continued another half hour with a proper ending, I would have given it 8 stars. It was a shame how it ended right in the middle of a great action packed segment.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    What happen in the end.. did she did..so No story at all total wast of time
  • Warning: Spoilers
    This movie shows us what it's like to be a spy, particularly one in which the spy is really hated by the country being infiltrated (a Mossad agent in Iran). It shows how very difficult it is, and how lonely. It also shows the dangers a spy faces because his or her controllers 'back home' don't always know what they're doing. It also shows the convoluted personal relationships, and how they get complicated and twisted up during a spy's career.

    I do not understand the negative reviews on this site. Just watch this movie carefully, maybe watch it twice, and you will be very impressed.

    As to the criticism of the ending, I will say this: the movie is over, and she's left going through the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, being hunted. That's it. She will never be safe again.
  • MBFaller20 September 2021
    Warning: Spoilers
    A good spy thriller that keeps you guessing. However I'm not sure why the description says there is no violence. There is plenty, including attempted rape.
  • Diane Kruger is a very special beauty. And a very talented actress. A unique personality. This is her movie, she's on screen almost all the time. Martin Freeman is very natural and credible in the role of Thomas. Cas Anvar is just as good in the role of Farhad. But the film could have been much better, there are gaps in the script and in directing. Just 5 stars, all for Diane Kruger and the other actors.
An error has occured. Please try again.