Restless

Restless, based on William Boyd's spy novel, stars the lovely Hayley Atwell (Marvel's Agent Carter, Pillars of the Earth, The Duchess) as Eva Delectorskaya, a young Russian woman living in London in 1939 with Europe on the cusp of WWII. Following her brother's untimely death, she is pulled into the world of British secret intelligence by a handsome and mysterious man named Lucas Romer (Rufus Sewell, Pillars of the Earth). Now going by Eve Dalton, she finds herself a really adept spy, far exceeding her superiors' expectations. After a dangerous mission where she cheats death, she is sent by Romer on a simple mission, to just deliver a package in New Mexico. What could go wrong, eh? Well, pretty much everything, but Eve is a clever, improvising woman who soon realizes things aren't adding up and her entire team may be at risk. To further complicate matters, she finds herself falling for Romer, placing far more meaning in their romantic trysts than he does. When Eve is forced to use her womanly spy skills to try to draw America into WWII, she discovers she may not be cut out for the spy business after all. But this is a job you don't just quit.

Jumping to the 1970's, recently widowed Sally Gilmartin (Charlotte Rampling, Dexter) makes a startling revelation to her daughter, Ruth (Michelle Dockery) - she is not really Sally Gilmartin, but instead is a former spy named Eva Delectorskaya, and she believes she has been found. So sets the tone of the entire span of Restless as we dance back and forth between the time periods, learning how Eva became the shrewd spy Eve Dalton, and how she later came to be living in paranoid solitude in the quiet countryside of England as a pretty unusual grandmother.

As "Sal" lays out her story to Ruth, which she has written down should something happen to her, Ruth first thinks she's gone a bit batty. However, Sal is convinced and soon draws Ruth into her plot to free herself of the ominous cloud of potential discovery that has floated over her for more than 30 years. Ruth starts to believe her mother when strange things start happening to her, but since she has a child with her estranged German lover, Karl-Heinz (Alexander Fehling, Labyrinth of Lies), who happens to be wrapped up with some rather odd political bedfellows, perhaps it's all just coincidence. When Ruth manages to locate Lucas Romer, now Lord Romer (Michael Gambon, Harry Potter Series), has she sealed her mother's fate or found a way for her to finally be free?

Restless is fantastic for anyone who loves a good WWII spy thriller. It starts off a bit slow, but builds to a frenzy by the second half. Hayley Atwell is stupendous and she seems determined to squarely keep herself set in period pieces, but it's fine since she pulls them off with such panache. I could literally see the inspiration for the Marvel's Agent Carter series in watching her as Eve Dalton. Rufus Sewell is also great and completely enigmatic as Lucas Romer. Although Atwell and Sewell have far more screen time as young Eve and Romer, Charlotte Rampling and Michael Gambon are spot on as the older versions of each character. Everyone in the cast is fantastic though, from Michelle Dockery as her daughter Ruth, to all of Eve's teammates as well. There is only one special feature and it's a Photo Gallery. While nice, I would have loved to hear more about bringing this film to the screen.

Restless is top notch and anyone with the least bit of interest in WWII intrigue should check it out. Highly recommended.

Restless

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