An Officer and a Spy

An Officer and a Spy (J'accuse, 2019) is Roman Polanski's historical thriller, and you can watch it online on iFILM. In 1890s France, an army captain is branded a traitor and shipped off to a prison island across the ocean.

The story follows Georges Picquart, the new chief of military intelligence, rather than the convicted man himself. Sorting through the files, Picquart spots what his superiors would rather he miss: the handwriting on the so-called evidence belongs to someone else, and the real spy is still wearing a uniform. The deeper he digs, the harder the high command pushes back, because admitting the mistake would shame the whole army. Jean Dujardin plays the officer who puts his rank and his freedom on the line. Louis Garrel, Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric fill out the cast.

Adapted by Robert Harris from his own novel, the film leans on the records of the trial that split a nation. Polanski keeps it cold and procedural, less courtroom speech than a study of how a state defends its own lie. It took the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Stream An Officer and a Spy (2019) online on iFILM.