Plot
Double-agent Alexander Eberlin is assigned by the British to hunt out a Russian spy, known to them as Krasnevin. Only Eberlin knows that Krasnevin is none other than himself! Accompanying him on his mission is a ruthless partner, who gradually discovers his secret as Eberlin tries to maneuver himself out of a desperate situation.
Keywords: based-on-novel, double-agent, drug-addict, food-in-title, german-democratic-republic, photographer, porn-magazine, spy, west-berlin-west-germany
A Double Agent in Double Danger!
A Double Agent Ordered to Kill...Himself!
Gatiss: [to Caroline about Eberlin] I do believe you two would have gone on well together. You haven't got a past, and he hasn't got a future. None at all.
Eberlin: You know, one thing about this damned profession - you're constantly being reminded of it. I feel like a whore in a creaking bed.
Caroline: I'm an existentialist.::Eberlin: Uh - you're a what?::Caroline: I'm an ext - isn't that the right word?::Eberlin: I would say "exhibitionist" is more to the point.::Caroline: What's an existentialist, then?::Eberlin: Well, it's slightly more complex than romping around naked.
Sobakevich: I mean, if you want to turn this into a gun war, it's all right with us - but our reserves are closer.::Gatiss: Who do you think you are, Al Capone?::Sobakevich: Who's Al Capone?::Gatiss: He was a megalomaniac gangster who murdered anyone who got in his way.::Sobakevich: Really? Whatever happened to him?::Gatiss: He changed his name to Stalin and moved to Russia.::Sobakevich: I thought he sounded familiar.
Gatiss: I don't like you, Eberlin. I don't like you because you're weak and dishonest. But even more, I don't like you because you're frightened of me, and that disturbs me. I want to know why. You can tell me; I'm a very understanding man.::Eberlin: You haven't got an ounce of understanding or emotion in your body. You died the moment you were born. And when your heart finally stops beating, it'll be a mere formality.
Caroline: George, will you be going back to London now?::Eberlin: Probably.::Sobakevich: Are they all as pretty as you there?::Caroline: No. I'm the only one.
A Dandy in Aspic is a 1968 British spy film, directed by Anthony Mann, based on the novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe and starring Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay and Mia Farrow. It was Mann's final film.
Essentially a Cold War thriller, it is the story of a Russian counter-espionage agent, known as Eberlin (Laurence Harvey) to his employers in British Intelligence, where he is working undercover for Moscow as a double agent.
Eberlin's superiors in Britain instruct him to find and assassinate a KGB agent named Krasnevin, believed to have killed a number of British agents. This presents a problem for Eberlin, as he is Krasnevin. He is summoned to a meeting at a country house, where he is presented with a photograph of the suspected Krasnevin. It turns out to be his handler and go-between with Moscow.
He is partnered with a ruthless, cynical and sociopathic British agent Gatiss (Tom Courtenay), who openly distrusts and dislikes Eberlin. Mia Farrow plays a London-based photographer with whom Eberlin has an affair. Much of the film takes place in West Berlin, where Eberlin tackles the dilemma posed by his mission by attempting to escape across the Berlin Wall to the East. His attempts are frustrated by his partnership with Gatiss, and by the Soviet authorities, who are keen retain one of their top agents in British intelligence.