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An Officer and a Spy

214 statements
41 feature instances
6 referencing feature instances

An Officer and a Spy	type	TVTItem
An Officer and a Spy	label	An Officer and a Spy
An Officer and a Spy	page	AnOfficerAndASpy
An Officer and a Spy	comment	An Officer and a Spy (French title J'accuse) is a French historical drama film written and directed by Roman Polański. It adapts the Robert Harris novel An Officer and a Spy, based on the notorious Dreyfus Affair that took France by storm at the end of the 19th century and in the early 1900s. Harris co-wrote the screenplay.In 1895, French army officer Marie-Georges Picquart (Jean Dujardin) is appointed chief of the army's intelligence section (DeuxiÃ¨me Bureau, service de renseignement militaire). He discovers that doctored evidence was used to convict Alfred Dreyfus (Louis Garrel), one of the few Jewish members of the French Army's general staff (in which antisemitic conspiracy theories abound), of passing military secrets to Imperial Germany.Picquart, who can't stand lies and injustice in the army, decides to risk his career and his life, going against his hierarchy and struggling for almost a decade to expose the truth and liberate the wrongly convicted Dreyfus from the Devil's Island prison. Doing so, he gets help from some lawyers, journalists and politicians, who bring public attention to the affair.The cast also includes Emmanuelle Seigner as Picquart's lover Pauline Monnier, Mathieu Amalric as Alphonse Bertillon and Vincent Grass as General Jean-Baptiste Billot.The film came out in France on November 13, 2019. It won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
An Officer and a Spy	fetched	2024-04-23T12:17:15Z
An Officer and a Spy	parsed	2024-04-23T12:17:15Z
An Officer and a Spy	processingComment	Dropped link to HistoricalDomainCharacter: Not a Feature - IGNORE
An Officer and a Spy	isPartOf	DBTropes
An Officer and a Spy / int_127fc252	type	Creator Cameo
An Officer and a Spy / int_127fc252	comment	Creator Cameo: Roman Polański appears as a one of the members of the AcadÃ©mie franÃ§aise who attend a concert Picquart goes to as well. He has a fake mustache.
An Officer and a Spy / int_127fc252	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_127fc252	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_127fc252
An Officer and a Spy / int_12dc4d97	type	Greedy Jew
An Officer and a Spy / int_12dc4d97	comment	Greedy Jew: Not played straight. Rather, a number of people in the army believe in corruption by "international Jewry" and are satisfied with Dreyfus being degraded and exiled, with some even actively trying to sweep Picquart's investigation under the rug and forging evidence to keep Dreyfus where he is.
An Officer and a Spy / int_12dc4d97	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_12dc4d97	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_12dc4d97
An Officer and a Spy / int_18d15922	type	Title Drop
An Officer and a Spy / int_18d15922	comment	Title Drop: The French title J'accuse is pronounced when the newspaper L'Aurore with Emile Zola's article and its famous headline is sold in the streets.
An Officer and a Spy / int_18d15922	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_18d15922	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_18d15922
An Officer and a Spy / int_191535aa	type	Eiffel Tower Effect
An Officer and a Spy / int_191535aa	comment	Eiffel Tower Effect: The Parisian military school where the Degradation of Dreyfus took place happens to stand near the Eiffel Tower◊ in Paris, and Roman Polanski didn't miss the occasion to make use of this to great effect.
An Officer and a Spy / int_191535aa	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_191535aa	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_191535aa
An Officer and a Spy / int_1daa7fce	type	In the Back
An Officer and a Spy / int_1daa7fce	comment	In the Back: Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy attacks Picquart in the streets after the latter made his accusations against him clear, trying to hit him on the head in the back with a cane. It backfires when Picquart proves to be a superior combatant, kicking his butt and humiliating him further with a one-liner.
An Officer and a Spy / int_1daa7fce	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_1daa7fce	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_1daa7fce
An Officer and a Spy / int_21f3aa44	type	Good Is Not Nice
An Officer and a Spy / int_21f3aa44	comment	Good is Not Nice: Picquart doesn't like Jews, but he wants to prove the innocence of Dreyfus nonetheless.
An Officer and a Spy / int_21f3aa44	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_21f3aa44	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_21f3aa44
An Officer and a Spy / int_21f7ff0f	type	Knight in Sour Armor
An Officer and a Spy / int_21f7ff0f	comment	Knight in Sour Armor: Picquart, the main character and champion of Dreyfus's innocence, is a self-professed antisemite and has an affair with a married woman.
An Officer and a Spy / int_21f7ff0f	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_21f7ff0f	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_21f7ff0f
An Officer and a Spy / int_33d5b7f2	type	Adapted Out
An Officer and a Spy / int_33d5b7f2	comment	Adapted Out: Leclerc, Picquart's CO in Africa, since the Africa parts of the book were left out by way of Time Skip.
An Officer and a Spy / int_33d5b7f2	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_33d5b7f2	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_33d5b7f2
An Officer and a Spy / int_39ed1c8a	type	Conspiracy Theorist
An Officer and a Spy / int_39ed1c8a	comment	Conspiracy Theorist: Basically anyone who blames "international Jewry" for anything that goes wrong.
An Officer and a Spy / int_39ed1c8a	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_39ed1c8a	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_39ed1c8a
An Officer and a Spy / int_407d3e6d	type	Morton's Fork
An Officer and a Spy / int_407d3e6d	comment	Morton's Fork: Dreyfus points out at his trial that he's being ruled guilty if the spy's handwriting matches his, but also if it doesn't, because it is interpreted as Dreyfus altering his handwriting to not be caught. Bertillon replies "yes" to both without missing a beat.
An Officer and a Spy / int_407d3e6d	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_407d3e6d	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_407d3e6d
An Officer and a Spy / int_40cc0c7e	type	Bittersweet Ending
An Officer and a Spy / int_40cc0c7e	comment	Bittersweet Ending: Though Dreyfus is released and allowed to rejoin the army, he is only pardoned, not officially cleared, and his time in prison is not considered service.
An Officer and a Spy / int_40cc0c7e	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_40cc0c7e	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_40cc0c7e
An Officer and a Spy / int_440d1d0b	type	Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!
An Officer and a Spy / int_440d1d0b	comment	Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Picquart is eventually pitted against his hierarchy, and still won't stop doing his best to prove the innocence of Dreyfus despite knowing the risks.
An Officer and a Spy / int_440d1d0b	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_440d1d0b	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_440d1d0b
An Officer and a Spy / int_44fc28e8	type	Honor Before Reason
An Officer and a Spy / int_44fc28e8	comment	Honor Before Reason: Picquart stands for honor in the army, while "reason" would dictate him to give up on the Dreyfus case unless he wants to end up degraded and imprisoned as well, which eventually happens.
An Officer and a Spy / int_44fc28e8	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_44fc28e8	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_44fc28e8
An Officer and a Spy / int_47ae290f	type	Let's Fight Like Gentlemen
An Officer and a Spy / int_47ae290f	comment	Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Picquart provokes Henry in a sword duel to the first blood, and wins it. He denies one to Esterhazy, however.
An Officer and a Spy / int_47ae290f	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_47ae290f	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_47ae290f
An Officer and a Spy / int_56515a39	type	Artistic License â€“ History
An Officer and a Spy / int_56515a39	comment	Artistic License â€“ History: Alphonse Bertillon is presented as a graphology expert, while he wasn't one in Real Life (rather he was a criminologist who basically pioneered biometry). His antisemitic opinions on the Dreyfus case are still depicted however, and while the real experts who proved he was a fraud in graphology are Adapted Out, his Insane Troll Logic still mitigates this.
An Officer and a Spy / int_56515a39	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_56515a39	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_56515a39
An Officer and a Spy / int_5798bfbf	type	Reassigned to Antarctica
An Officer and a Spy / int_5798bfbf	comment	Reassigned to Antarctica: When Picquart's investigation on Esterhazy starts getting too close to the truth, his superiors first have him reassigned to garrison inspections in the German border, then to Algeria and Tunisia. Then they want to send him to the Sahara near the border with Tripolitania (now Libya) where he has high chances of being killed, and he decides to go back to France and face arrest instead.
An Officer and a Spy / int_5798bfbf	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_5798bfbf	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_5798bfbf
An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3483cc	type	Reading The Enemy's Mail
An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3483cc	comment	Reading The Enemy's Mail: Among the primary sources of information for the late 19th century French secret services, there's the interception of letters. It happens to Picquart when he starts outright going against his hierarchy.
An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3483cc	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3483cc	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3483cc
An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3e7c6	type	Kangaroo Court
An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3e7c6	comment	Kangaroo Court: The military justice that was in motion in the first phase of the Dreyfus Affair used very shallow evidence against Dreyfus, up to and including antisemitic conspiracy theories. The efforts of several army heads later on, up to sweeping evidence of Dreyfus's innocence under the rug and forging some others to accuse him, turned the first revision trial into something of one as well.
An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3e7c6	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3e7c6	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_5d3e7c6
An Officer and a Spy / int_5fcb9ad1	type	Time Skip
An Officer and a Spy / int_5fcb9ad1	comment	Time Skip: Several, mostly due to the years that the revision trials lasted.
An Officer and a Spy / int_5fcb9ad1	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_5fcb9ad1	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_5fcb9ad1
An Officer and a Spy / int_673c9dd8	type	Insignia Rip-Off Ritual
An Officer and a Spy / int_673c9dd8	comment	Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: Like the novel, the film opens with a formal military ceremony, the "Degradation," in which Dreyfus is infamously stripped of his military insignia and his officer's sword is broken in two.
An Officer and a Spy / int_673c9dd8	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_673c9dd8	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_673c9dd8
An Officer and a Spy / int_6c275297	type	The Fettered
An Officer and a Spy / int_6c275297	comment	The Fettered: Picquart has principles, standing for justice and honor within the army.
An Officer and a Spy / int_6c275297	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_6c275297	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_6c275297
An Officer and a Spy / int_6d332aea	type	Driven to Suicide
An Officer and a Spy / int_6d332aea	comment	Driven to Suicide: Commandant Hubert Henry kills himself in his prison cell after the forging of his evidence against Dreyfus is exposed.
An Officer and a Spy / int_6d332aea	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_6d332aea	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_6d332aea
An Officer and a Spy / int_734632b0	type	Noble Bigot
An Officer and a Spy / int_734632b0	comment	Noble Bigot: Picquart admits he doesn't like Jews, but that doesn't stand in the way of his defense of the innocence of Dreyfus the slightest.
An Officer and a Spy / int_734632b0	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_734632b0	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_734632b0
An Officer and a Spy / int_7426582d	type	Token Minority
An Officer and a Spy / int_7426582d	comment	Token Minority: Played for Drama. Dreyfus's entire predicament comes from being "the only Jew in the building".
An Officer and a Spy / int_7426582d	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_7426582d	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_7426582d
An Officer and a Spy / int_7ae40f90	type	Manly Facial Hair
An Officer and a Spy / int_7ae40f90	comment	Manly Facial Hair: Picquart has a well-trimmed mustache like pretty much every man at the end of the 19th century and very early 20th century, and he's a Master Swordsman, given the way he beats Henry in a fencing duel and turns Esterhazy's attack in the streets against him.
An Officer and a Spy / int_7ae40f90	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_7ae40f90	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_7ae40f90
An Officer and a Spy / int_a536f3a3	type	Gender-Blender Name
An Officer and a Spy / int_a536f3a3	comment	Gender-Blender Name: Picquart's first name is a composite, Marie-Georges, with "Marie" being feminine. This was pretty common in France up until about the 1950s.
An Officer and a Spy / int_a536f3a3	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_a536f3a3	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_a536f3a3
An Officer and a Spy / int_aabe2fb	type	Deliberate Values Dissonance
An Officer and a Spy / int_aabe2fb	comment	Deliberate Values Dissonance: Almost every army man in the film is an antisemite, and indeed the fact that Dreyfus is Jewish played a big part to make him suspicious once the military started looking for a mole. Homophobia is common, too.
An Officer and a Spy / int_aabe2fb	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_aabe2fb	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_aabe2fb
An Officer and a Spy / int_acf33d00	type	Nice Job Fixing It, Villain
An Officer and a Spy / int_acf33d00	comment	Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Set up, but subverted at Zola's trial when Henry and Boisdeffre talk about the letter that was the main evidence against Dreyfus, removing its state secrecy and allowing Picquart to denounce it publicly as a forgery. Zola is still declared guilty, and Dreyfus is declared guilty again by extension. It takes years for the government to reduce Dreyfus's sentence and then pardon him but they never admit to the miscarriage of justice.
An Officer and a Spy / int_acf33d00	featureApplicability	-0.3
An Officer and a Spy / int_acf33d00	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_acf33d00
An Officer and a Spy / int_b905c10c	type	The Alcatraz
An Officer and a Spy / int_b905c10c	comment	The Alcatraz: Devil's Island, the remote overseas penal colony off the coast of French Guiana where Dreyfus is sent.
An Officer and a Spy / int_b905c10c	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_b905c10c	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_b905c10c
An Officer and a Spy / int_bc3cb7ff	type	Clear My Name
An Officer and a Spy / int_bc3cb7ff	comment	Clear My Name: Alfred Dreyfus and his family want to clear his name. Then Marie-Georges Picquart and several lawyers, politicians and journalists enter the fray to make the scandal known to the public and prove his innocence.
An Officer and a Spy / int_bc3cb7ff	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_bc3cb7ff	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_bc3cb7ff
An Officer and a Spy / int_bdc94cd9	type	Compressed Adaptation
An Officer and a Spy / int_bdc94cd9	comment	Compressed Adaptation: Picquart's time in North Africa from the book gets a Time Skip.
An Officer and a Spy / int_bdc94cd9	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_bdc94cd9	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_bdc94cd9
An Officer and a Spy / int_c0d106a8	type	Wrecked Weapon
An Officer and a Spy / int_c0d106a8	comment	Wrecked Weapon: The film opens with a recreation of the infamous public degradation of Dreyfus◊, with an officer stripping him of his military grade insignias and breaking his officer's sword.
An Officer and a Spy / int_c0d106a8	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_c0d106a8	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_c0d106a8
An Officer and a Spy / int_c2288824	type	A Nazi by Any Other Name
An Officer and a Spy / int_c2288824	comment	A Nazi by Any Other Name: When the Dreyfus Affair is at its boiling point in the French public opinion, some anti-Dreyfus people start burning piles of the newspaper L'Aurore (which defends Dreyfus) and Emile Zola's books in the streets (Zola's Nana can be briefly glimpsed through the flames), then attack shops owned by Jews, even painting Stars of David on the shop frontages they don't wreck. Sound familiar?
An Officer and a Spy / int_c2288824	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_c2288824	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_c2288824
An Officer and a Spy / int_c5f0119c	type	Insane Troll Logic
An Officer and a Spy / int_c5f0119c	comment	Insane Troll Logic: The first piece of evidence that is used against Dreyfus is proven to not have been written by him. The graphology expert accuses him nonetheless, stating that "Jewry" taught him how to hide his personal patterns when writing...
An Officer and a Spy / int_c5f0119c	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_c5f0119c	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_c5f0119c
An Officer and a Spy / int_c9aea8c8	type	Armies Are Evil
An Officer and a Spy / int_c9aea8c8	comment	Armies Are Evil: Picquart is pretty much the only figure of the French military who truly wants to stand for justice and honesty in the case of Dreyfus. Most of the others believe in antisemitic conspiracy theories and want the army to remain "clean" (of Jews and troubles) and the very idea of another scandal hitting it prompts them to churn out lies, forged evidence and hierarchy cover-ups to maintain the disgrace of Dreyfus. Dreyfus himself is the highest ranked Jewish person in the French army, and he had to struggle to get there given what the army's heads and his superiors think of his kind.
An Officer and a Spy / int_c9aea8c8	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_c9aea8c8	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_c9aea8c8
An Officer and a Spy / int_ddeaea82	type	Miscarriage of Justice
An Officer and a Spy / int_ddeaea82	comment	Miscarriage of Justice: One of the most infamous cases in the history of France. Dreyfus is wrongly accused of being a Double Agent working for the Germans and it takes years to prove his innocence and acquit him.
An Officer and a Spy / int_ddeaea82	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_ddeaea82	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_ddeaea82
An Officer and a Spy / int_e1f9753e	type	The Handler
An Officer and a Spy / int_e1f9753e	comment	The Handler: Commandant Henry is the handler for a prime source of intelligence, a cleaning woman who works in the German Embassy.
An Officer and a Spy / int_e1f9753e	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_e1f9753e	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_e1f9753e
An Officer and a Spy / int_e3e4accb	type	J'accuse!
An Officer and a Spy / int_e3e4accb	comment	J'accuse: The very French title, being about the Trope Namer affair, with the famous headline of Ã‰mile Zola's article in the newspaper L'Aurore.
An Officer and a Spy / int_e3e4accb	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_e3e4accb	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_e3e4accb
An Officer and a Spy / int_e70127	type	The Mole
An Officer and a Spy / int_e70127	comment	The Mole: What Dreyfus is accused of being. Picquart finds out Esterhazy was the real mole.
An Officer and a Spy / int_e70127	featureApplicability	1.0
An Officer and a Spy / int_e70127	featureConfidence	1.0
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	An Officer and a Spy / int_e70127
An Officer and a Spy / int_efad3bde	type	Mal MariÃ©e
An Officer and a Spy / int_efad3bde	comment	Mal MariÃ©e: Pauline Monnier doesn't love her husband (she got there by way of Arranged Marriage), and she has an affair with Picquart.
An Officer and a Spy / int_efad3bde	featureApplicability	1.0
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An Officer and a Spy / int_name	type	ItemName
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	Biopic / int_60850b03
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	Films of 2015â€“2019 / int_60850b03
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	Insignia Rip-Off Ritual / int_60850b03
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	J'accuse! / int_60850b03
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	Jews Playing Nazis / int_60850b03
An Officer and a Spy	hasFeature	Wrecked Weapon / int_60850b03

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