The Confession

Coming on the heels of his powerful anti-fascist political drama Z (1969), insurrectionary filmmaker Costa-Gavras's The Confession (1970) critiques Soviet Communism, particularly its farcical world of party loyalty to an increasingly paranoid and deeply flawed system. The film is based on the true story of an operative named Gerard, who was arrested in Czechoslovakia in Stalin-era 1952 by Communist authorities for flirtations with Trotskyism and supposedly shady dealings during the Spanish Civil War. Played with a sort of robotic resignation by Yves Montand, Gerard's seemingly endless, circular interrogation at the hands of a faceless, soulless succession of Soviet authorities forms the center of the tale. Costa-Gavras obsessively documents the brutal methods of psychological and physical torture used by the Soviets to try and break Gerard's will in order to gain a confession (or, more accurately, the particular confession they want to hear). Sleep- and food-deprived, Gerard's ability to endure the excruciating process slowly but surely breaks down until he can no longer distinguish truth from fiction, caught up in the teeth of a system that itself can no longer distinguish real from unreal. An aging Simone Signoret ably plays Gerard's wife, a doctrinaire Communist party loyalist who must choose between loyalty to the party and loyalty to her husband. Although The Confession was a courageous anti-Soviet statement made at a time when global Cold War tensions were high, today it comes across as a flat, essayistic academic study with one-dimensional characters, rather than a fully fleshed-out drama. Extras include vintage and archival cast and crew interviews, an on-set documentary made by filmmaker Chris Marker, and an essay by scholar Dina Iordanova. Despite being dated, this lesser work from an influential filmmaker should be considered a strong optional purchase. (M. Sandlin)