The Assassination of Trotsky (1972)
Directed by Joseph Losey

Film Review

This heavy historic drama is largely disappointing, in spite of the formidable cast.  The main reason why the film just fails to gel is the language barrier which lead actors Delon and Schneider singularly fail to overcome.  As a result, their performances lack expression and conviction.  The film would probably have worked better if it had been made in French.

The film has also been criticised for its historic inaccuracies.  However probably the most damning indictment should be reserved for Losey's rather clumsy attempts to adopt unconventional arty filming techniques.  These serve merely to reinforce the film's sense of emotional detachment and further distance the actors from the audience.  The result is as an ice-cold thriller singularly lacking in suspense and emotional involvement.

Film Synopsis

Leon Trotsky, one of the principal architects of the Soviet Revolution, has been forced into exile.  It is 1940 and the present Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin has come to regard Trotsky as a dangerous threat to his authority, one that must be eliminated at any cost.  One day, a young man named Frank Jackson shows up at Trotsky's villa near Mexico, posing as a Canadian journalist.  Jackson claims he intends writing an article on the exiled revolutionary and requests an interview with him.  Before he can do so, the supposed journalist must convince those who are protecting Trotsky that he intends no harm.  With such a likely assassination target in their midst, Trotsky's communist friends are taking no risks, so the villa where he resides is guarded night and day by armed police.  Frank acquires a useful ally in Gita Samuels, a close friend and confidante of the revolutionary.  It is through her that he will finally reach the reclusive Trotsky and carry out his orders, to murder him in cold blood...