Breach review

FBI agent Robert Hanssen is considered the biggest spy in United States history. Before his arrest in 2001, the 56 year-old Hanssen had been selling US secrets to the Russians for more than 15 years. In return he received more than $1.4m in cash and diamonds. Based on true events, Breach is an enthralling and well-crafted drama about the investigation leading to the arrest of Hanssen (Chris Cooper) and his relationship with junior agent Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe), who is assigned to work as Hanssen's personal assistant while spying on him for Bureau investigators.

Director Billy Ray, who co-wrote the screenplay with Adam Mazer and William Rotko, has created a low key and intense character study more concerned with the personal lives of Hanssen and O'Neill than the devastating impact of Hanssen's traitorous actions. Complex and brilliantly smart, the veteran agent of 25 years is a mass of contradictions. A devoutly religious man who attends mass every day, he is also a sexual deviant who distributes sex tapes of his wife (Kathleen Quinlan). He is impossibly demanding and critical of those around him, in particular O'Neill, but overlooks his own obvious failings. .

For O'Neill, the assignment is particularly difficult. More used to spying on traditional enemies, he initially questions the validity of the accusations made against Hanssen, someone he comes to conditionally admire and who, under different circumstances, could have been a mentor. The dynamic between the two is acutely observed. Phillippe's excellent and understated portrayal of the quiet and self-doubting O'Neill contrasts with the always accomplished Cooper's more impassioned role as the blunt and arrogant Hanssen.

Opening with the headline news of Hanssen's treachery, Breach jumps back in time and shows O'Neil on surveillance duty. Ambitious, with aspirations to become a full agent, he is picked for the delicate assignment for his own religious sympathies, and computer skills. Initially his boss (Laura Linney) lies about the reasons Hanssen is being investigated, but when pressed reveals the true nature of the FBI's case. The pressure of his deceitful and covert operation takes its toll on O'Neill and his wife Julianna (Caroline Dhavernas), and he starts to question the high personal price agents are expected to pay for a career in the Bureau.

Methodically paced, Breach is fully involving from the outset. The spy versus spy outline is absorbing not just because of what's at stake and the tense moments it supplies, but also because of the fascinating people it involves. Films about spies conventionally focus on the daring and high tech elements of espionage, which makes Breach's very personal approach a refreshing and welcome change.

Kevin Murphy