A Different Loyalty [2004] [DVD]

Having never heard of this small picture, I was curious to check out "A Different Loyalty." Based on a true story, and starring Sharon Stone and Rupert Everett--"Loyalty" aims to tell the story of one of the most successful British spies working for the Soviets. Everett plays this agent, who helped to steal nuclear secrets from the Americans among other deeds. Facing exposure, he must turn his back on an idyllic family life and flee to Russia to live out his days.

There are moderate successes within "Loyalty" which wants to be a Cold War thriller, of sorts, but mainly thanks to Everett. His performance is a thoughtful one, and he and Stone make a credible pair. Their courtship and family life are well played and interesting. When he goes missing, however, Stone must start facing the truths about her husband.

There is a tremendous, morally complicated story to be told here--unfortunately, "A Different Loyalty" isn't quite the picture that it should have been. First of all, Everett's espionage is discussed only in superficial terms. We never see him as anything other than a somewhat sympathetic family man--not a major player in international politics. And if Stone has any actual thoughts about his betrayal to England, they are never shown. We are left with Stone's personal betrayal and wanting to bring her family back together--but not once does she question whether her husband might be a villain. What could have been a devastating treatise on love and loyalty devolves into a mundane relationship drama. The implications of Everett's actions never have an actual impact on Stone, and that's the film's ultimate undoing. If Stone doesn't try to comprehend what her husband has done, why should we? And since "Loyalty" doesn't give us much actual information to work with--it falls flat as a story we can care about.

Decent performances, but a lack of insight or fully realized potential, make this a watchable but forgettable endeavor. KGHarris, 11/06.

Based in part on the lives of Eleanor Philby and British spy Kim Philby (1912-1988), "A Different Loyalty" is an odd and partially successful mixture of spy novel, history, and romance.

Rupert Everett plays Leo Cauffiled (the metaphor for Kim Philby, who was said to be among the most successful double agents of the Cold War) and Stone plays wife Sally. The story begins in Beirut where the pair meet, romance, Sally divorces her diplomat husband, and the pair marry. They enjoy happiness until Leo defects.

When Sally discovers Leo has been a double agent working for the Russians, she ignores the advice of American authorities and joins him in Moscow. The film takes mostly dark and ill turns afterward, and the ending is neither preidctable, satisfying, nor pleasant. The postlude indicates Leo stayed a Soviet until his death in 1988.

This movie is a lot like a made for TV flick in its first hour. Many of the events played out over time -- such as Sally's attraction to Leo and her subsequent affair with him, then leaving her husband to marry him -- transpire in only 1-2 scenes of only a couple minutes' duration. This is one of the film's great weaknesses -- its superficial presentation of the lives of its main subjects.

The great strength in Stone's multidimensional performance as wife, sexpot, mistress, mother, ex-wife, searcher, and household beacon. She is completely credible in every role and creates empathy for her tortured persona as she first searches for her wayward husband, then finds him, then is tormented by his decision to choose Communism over wife, family, freedom and Western material largess.

The movie was filmed in New York, London, Montreal, Moscow and Malta, a Meditteranes nation off Sicily that must have been the site for the scenes in Beirut. There is no question that -- while the cinematography could easily have been more widescale and enjoyable -- the scenes in Malta and Moscow were particularly fine. The site filming added authenticity to the overall project.

Still, there are enough holes in the plot and superficiality to the story to keep this from being in the top rank. It is above average for its colluded storyline and Stone's wonderful performance. Anyone that likes spy films or romance will enjoy "A Different Loyalty".

I found this a fascinating movie. It's based, of course, on the real life events of the Cambridge spies, particularly the most famous of them, Kim Philby. For some reason, they changed all the names of the spies in the movie. I don't know why they changed the names; I thought it would have been more effective if they had not.

Anyway, the film focuses on the life of Philby (a different name in the movie) and the wife he marries in Beirut. Philby famously left MI5 and took up the job of a journalist in Beirut from which position he presumably continued his work for the KGB. Upon discovering that he was about to be outted, he fled for Moscow, leaving his ignorant wife in the lurch. She at first was in denial, then travelled to Moscow and discovered the truth about her husband. In the end she separates from him, even though still being in love.

The movie portrays most Americans as boors of course. Philby is portrayed mostly sympathetically throughout despite his traitourous activities in real life (passing nuclear secrets to the Reds thereby prolonging the Cold War). However, I found the pace of the movie and the depth of character portrayal quite engrossing. Glad to have stumbled across it.