NEW YORK, NY.- Film Forum presents the US premiere of An Officer and a Spy, directed by Roman Polanski.

Paris, 1895: Jewish Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus (Louis Garrel) is ceremoniously stripped of his status and sentenced to life on a penal colony for passing secrets to Germany. Officer George Picquart (Jean Dujardin), appointed head of military counter-intelligence, discovers that the Germans continue to receive secrets, and that a mole is still at large. Polanski and Harris (Conclave) – who also collaborated on THE GHOST WRITER – forge a historical thriller from deeply researched details of the Dreyfus Affair, a scandal that divided French society for 12 years, elicited Émile Zola's famed "J'accuse...!" open letter, and remains a monumental case of institutional injustice and antisemitism.

More than a century after Dreyfus' conviction, the case continues to reverberate in France. On June 3, 2025, Roger Cohen reported in The New York Times: "The French National Assembly, or lower house of Parliament, took a big step in that direction [of reparations] on Monday when it voted unanimously to promote Dreyfus, who was publicly stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment, to the rank of brigadier general. It was an apparent acknowledgment that, after more than 130 years and at a time of repeated desecrations of Jewish sites in France, the Republic’s atonement had been incomplete."

An Officer and a Spy had its world premiere at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize. It received twelve nominations for the 45th César Awards and won the awards for Best Adaptation, Best Costume Design, and Best Director.

“Effortlessly absorbing…With its proliferation of intercepted documents and carefully scrutinized handwriting samples, it opens an engrossing window on the top-secret workings of 19th century French intelligence. Polanski, who wrote the script with Robert Harris (the writer of the novel on which it’s based), distills a complicated chain of evidence into a succession of highly incisive, disciplined scenes, superbly acted by an ensemble that includes Mathieu Amalric, Melvil Poupaud, Grégory Gadebois and Emmanuelle Seigner. All of them, like Polanski, have scaled their talents to the material with classical precision and intelligence.” – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

“A gripping, brainy historical thriller… An immaculate piece of period storytelling.... Each frame is filled with painterly detail; each performance is distinctive.” – Phil de Semlyn, Time Out

“Perfectly composed and gorgeously mounted, it is a masterful compression of the serpentine intricacies of the Dreyfus story; no other version hews so faithfully to the facts of the case and communicates the details so lucidly and comprehensively.” – Thomas Doherty, Cineaste

“A masterly period drama — Polanski’s best work since THE PIANIST.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

An Officer and a Spy (2019, 132 min.) Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Robert Harris & Roman Polanski. Based on the book by Robert Harris. Produced by Alain Goldman. Starring Jean Dujardin (Picquart), Louis Garrel (Alfred Dreyfus), Emmanuelle Seigner (Pauline Monnier), Grégory Gadebois (Henry). Cinematography: Paweł Edelman. Edited by Hervé de Luze. Music by Alexandre Desplat. France / Italy. In French with English Subtitles.