Shadow Dancer (film)

Shadow Dancer is a 2012 British-Irish drama film directed by James Marsh and scripted by Tom Bradby, based on his 1998 novel of the same name. The film premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival,[2] and it was screened out of competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012.[3]

Shadow Dancer
Film poster
Directed byJames Marsh
Produced byChris Coen
Ed Guiney
Andrew Lowe
Written byTom Bradby
StarringClive Owen
Andrea Riseborough
Gillian Anderson
Music byDickon Hinchliffe
CinematographyRob Hardy
Edited byJinx Godfrey
Production
company
Irish Film Board
BBC Films
UKFS
Element Pictures
Unanimous Pictures
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • 24 January 2012 (2012-01-24) (Sundance)
  • 24 August 2012 (2012-08-24) (United Kingdom)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
Ireland
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.2 million[1]

Plot

In the opening scene, set in 1973, the Troubles in Northern Ireland result in the death of Collette's younger brother when they are children.

The film jumps forward to 1993 London. After a failed bombing attack in London, Collette is arrested and offered a choice by an MI5 officer, Mac, who is assigned as her handler. Either she spends 25 years in jail, thus losing everything she loves, including her young son. Or, she becomes an informant for MI5, spying on her own family. Collette agrees to inform. In return, Mac offers her a new identity after working for MI5.

Soon Mac learns that his superior Kate Fletcher is using Collette to protect Fletcher's own mole inside the Irish organization. Mac tries to find the identity of this informer to protect Collette. Additionally, a romantic interest develops between Mac and Collette, evidenced by a passionate kiss shared at their weekly meeting at a quay.

Meanwhile, Kevin, an IRA enforcer, realizing a mole exists within Collette's family, gets closer and closer to Collette. Mac's superiors refuse to remove her from danger. Finally, Kevin realizes that either Connor or Collette is the mole. Gerry, Collette's oldest brother, gives passive consent for Kevin to interrogate Connor and Collette. Connor is tortured, but gives no information, and just as Connor is about to be executed, Kevin calls it off

At the same time, Mac breaks into secret archives and determines that Fletcher's mole is Collette's mother, confirming that he has been used surreptitiously by his superiors, who were only interested in Collette as a shield her mother's treachery. Mac makes a phone call to Collette's mother, informing her that the IRA will be coming to pick up Collette, and that Collette was recruited to protect her. However, when Kevin arrives to pick up Collette, her mother goes outside and enters Kevin's car. Later, her mother's dead body is found, apparently by execution, showing that Kevin had determined the mother was the mole.

Mac makes a phone call to Collette and—apparently acting alone, outside the permission of his superiors—informs her that he can get her and her son out of Northern Ireland. Given their apparent romantic feelings for each other, it appears that they will make a run for it together. Mac arrives at their usual meeting spot the quay, where Collette—now no longer an IRA suspect—appears in the distance, relaxed and playing with a dog. Before he can meet with Collette, Mac's returns to his car to answer a ringing cell phone. When he answers it, a car bomb explodes, killing him.

The film ends with Collette and her son getting into a car with her brother Connor. Connor tells Collette that "it's done" and they must leave. It becomes evident that Collette was playing Mac and set up his death. Her true IRA colors are revealed. Connnor helps her and her son make their escape from British authorities.

Cast

Reception

As of January 2021, the film holds an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 91 reviews with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "A tense, thought-provoking thriller, Shadow Dancer is bolstered by sensitive direction from James Marsh and a terrific performance from Andrea Riseborough."[4] According to Metacritic, which sampled the opinions of 23 critics and calculated an average score of 71 out of 100, the film received "generally favorable reviews".[5]

British film magazine Empire giving it a score of 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "an intelligent and emotionally charged spy drama".[6] The Guardian called it "a slow-burning but brilliant thriller about an IRA sympathiser forced to become an informant by MI5".[7]

References
  1. "Shadow Dancer: Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. 27 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  2. Wise, Damon (25 January 2012). "Sundance 2012: Shadow Dancer – review". berlinale.de. London. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  3. "18 World Premieres in the Competition". berlinale.de. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  4. "Shadow Dancer (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  5. "Shadow Dancer Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  6. "Empire's Shadow Dancer Movie Review". Empire. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  7. Wise, Damon (25 January 2012). "Sundance 2012: Shadow Dancer – review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
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