Shadow Dancer (2012)

Directed by: James Marsh | 100 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Andrea Riseborough, Clive Owen, Gillian Anderson, Aidan Gillen, Domhnall Gleeson, Brid Brennan, David Wilmot, Stuart Graham, Martin McCann, Tom Bennett, Bradley Burke, Una Carroll, Andrew Holohan, Mark Huberman, David Kendellen, Michael McElhatton, Anna Elizabeth McGrath, Alan O’Neill, Niamh O’Rourke, David Ryan, Jamie Scott, Daniel Tatarsky, Morgan Watkins

The BBC production ‘Shadow Dancer’, by James Marsh (from the Oscar-winning documentary ‘Man on Wire’), tells the story of Ireland’s Collette McVeigh (Andrea Riseborough) during a particularly troubled period in the country’s history of whiskey, beer and green hills. In a short prologue set in the early 1970s, we get to see what must have prompted her and her two brothers to join the IRA. Now, in 1993, we see her on a London Underground. A leather bag clutched in her lap. It doesn’t take long before you realize what must be in there. Collette is captured by the MI5 after the failure of her mission. With that impressive scene – without dialogues – Marsh succeeds in creating a chilling atmosphere. The young woman is introduced to MI5 agent Mac (Clive Owen), who tries to convince her that there is a way out if she will only cooperate. At first Collette doesn’t like this, but when she realizes she won’t see her son Mark (Cathal Maguire) grow up if she doesn’t comply with the calm and confidence-building cop’s demands, she reluctantly gives in. And so she becomes a spy. In exchange for information about the actions of her brothers Gerry and Connor (Aidan Gillen and Domhnal Gleeson), who are more deeply involved in the IRA than their sister, her prison sentence is waived.

Andrea Riseborough carries the film on her slender shoulders. Her inner conflict is evident in every scene, aided in part by intense close-ups. The moments when she only fulfills the first function of the subtitle (Mother – Daughter – Sister – Spy) are of a moving tenderness. By the way: as much as those four words are reminiscent of that other recent, rock-solid spy thriller based on the book by John Le Carré, it would have been a better title than the ambiguous ‘Shadow Dancer’, which evokes associations with a completely different kind of film and most likely it will also scare off potential viewers.

Besides Riseborough, Clive Owen once again impresses, although that is no surprise. His interaction with the lead actress is fantastic, as is the one with his boss, played by Gillian Anderson (in a small but good role). His character’s conflict is sublimely brought to the screen by Owen, he is torn between his heart for the cause and his deep desire to keep his promise to Collette.

The attention for the setting also pays off: much of ‘Shadow Dancer’ takes place in the house where Collette lives with her family and the era is authentic down to the last detail. Slightly more indiscriminate, but nevertheless no less effective, is the choice to have Collette wear a bright red raincoat, so that her character not only stands out symbolically in a few scenes against her grim surroundings.

‘Shadow Dancer’ excels in not showing the obvious. By choosing to keep the camera on the young, bead-stringing Collette in the prologue, instead of following her brother Sean out, Marsh sets the tone. ‘Shadow Dancer’ only tells what is absolutely necessary, the tempo is slow and the atmosphere is dominantly gray and cold. The scenario, written by Tom Bradby (also author of the novel on which ‘Shadow Dancer’ is based), is not very smooth, besides being absolutely unpredictable. The disadvantage of that is that ‘Shadow Dancer’ is just not as gripping as it could be. That does not alter the fact that the film manages to keep you more than fascinated for more than an hour and a half and makes you think about this intriguing, still sensitive period in European history.