In the vein of The Lives Of Others but only loosely based on an incredible true story, FAREWELL is an espionage film about events that changed history. In 1981, Colonel Grigoriev (Kusturica) of the KGB, disenchanted with the Communist ideal, decides he is going to change the world. Discreetly, he makes contact with Pierre (Canet), a French engineer working in Moscow and passes on documents to him - mainly concerning the United States and France - containing information which would uncover the most important Soviet Cold War espionage operation known to date. During a period of two years, French President Francois Mitterrand and US President Ronald Reagan personally vetted the documents supplied by this source in Moscow, to whom the French Secret Service gave the codename Farewell. Farewell smuggled out information that would cause actions which sounded the death knell of the Soviet Union before the end of the decade. In his own way, Farewell played a small part in changing the world. In this dramatization, which does not include the fact that the real Grigoriev attacked his mistress and murdered a policeman, he avoids traditional espionage methods too well known to the KGB and does not ask for financial compensation. He simply follows his destiny, so that a new world might dawn for his fellow Russians, but especially for his son.
Who was the French President during this time?
Francois Mitterrand