The Secret Agent: LFF Film Review
I had very high hopes for the Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent because it won two awards at the Cannes Film Festival – Wagner Moura scooped Best Actor and Kleber Mendonça Filho was honoured with Best Director. While I can appreciate that this is a well-made film, some of the storytelling choices left me cold.
Set during Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1977, the film follows Marcelo (Moura), a former university professor on the run. He travels to Recife during Carnival week, hoping to be reunited with his son Fernando, and finds refuge with an underground network of political refugees run by Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria).
The Secret Agent is a thematically rich and sprawling slow-burner that weaves a tapestry with many interesting characters. It takes many detours, and while it was always compelling, I really felt its 2 hours and 38 minutes runtime and wished that it were slightly more focused on Marcelo’s story. While it follows his present movements in Recife, it doesn’t provide enough backstory and context to truly understand his situation. It could have been clearer.
The 1977 story is occasionally interrupted with time jumps forward, which took me out of the main arc. So imagine my horror when the third act jumped to the present day and stayed there! The past timeline was building to an exciting climax, so to cut it off before it played out was very frustrating. The film should have stayed in the past the whole way through. The final act we’re presented with is anticlimactic and left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
I cannot fault Moura’s captivating, magnetic performance, the sweaty, chaotic setting and the grainy period visuals, but it’s far too long and uninterested in giving answers.
Showing at the London Film Festival. To be released in cinemas in February 2026.