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The Patriots

The Patriots (Les Patriotes)

Movie · 1994 · 15 people

Éric Rochant wrote and directed the French spy and political thriller The Patriots (French original Les Patriotes, shown in Turkey as Vatanseverler). Focused on the Mossad's activities and working methods, it follows a young Frenchman who joins Israeli intelligence. The film was made in 1993, selected for competition at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and opened in Turkey on 30 May 1997. It runs about 138 minutes, in English, French and Hebrew.

The main character is Ariel Brenner, played by Yvan Attal. Brenner cuts all ties with his family and travels to Tel Aviv to fulfil his childhood dream of becoming a Mossad agent, only to be arrested by the police on arrival. Once out of jail he enters the difficult, shadowy world of Israeli intelligence and is used on missions, first in France and then in the United States. The cast includes Richard Masur (Jeremy Pelman), Nancy Allen (Catherine Pelman) and Bernard Le Coq (Bill Haydon), along with Sandrine Kiberlain, Makram Khoury and Emmanuelle Devos.

The film is a fictionalised account of two separate operations attributed to the Israeli secret services. The first is the acquisition of plans for the Iraqi Osirak nuclear site, later bombed by the Israeli air force; the second is a story inspired by the Jonathan Pollard espionage scandal.

DirectorÉric Rochant

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Cast

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Sandrine Kiberlain Sandrine Kiberlain Film actor · 58 years old Makram Khoury Makram Khoury Film actor · 81 years old Yvan Attal Allen Garfield Beata Nilska Bernard Le Coq Christine Pascal ‎Élizabeth Macocco Emmanuelle Devos Eva Darlan Hippolyte Girardot Jean-François Stévenin Maurice Bénichou Nancy Allen Richard Masur

Through different eyes

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

A young man joining the Mossad, missions stretching from France to the United States: on paper, a full-on spy thriller. But because the film focuses on how intelligence work is done, it portrays a patient process more than a chase. Combined with its length, the pace drags in places. Wrong address if you want explosions and pursuits; the right pick if you want a cool-headed, detail-minded espionage story.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Éric Rochant writing his own script gives the film a consistent, cool gaze: espionage is treated not as a romantic adventure but as a profession and a system. Having the road to a childhood dream cut short by an arrest at the very first step is a clever structural move that breaks hero expectations from the outset. Dialogue that moves between English, French and Hebrew lends credibility to the shifts of location. On the other hand, joining two separate operations into one narrative risks a rupture in the middle, and to my mind the two halves don't carry the same dramatic weight. Even so, it is worth a look for anyone after a seriously built intelligence film from 1990s European cinema.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The title carries the story's most contentious question: which definition of patriotism covers a young Frenchman serving another country's intelligence service? Cutting ties with his family and moving to Tel Aviv reflects an idea of identity in which belonging is chosen rather than inherited. The story draws on real events: the acquisition of plans for Iraq's Osirak nuclear site and the Jonathan Pollard espionage scandal. The film fictionalises them, so anyone curious about the events themselves should look at other sources too. Showing the price the intelligence world demands of the individual is the film's most lasting quality.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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