Writer-director Yuval Adler returns to the spy genre that he first visited with his 2013 film Bethlehem, with The Operative starring Diane Kruger and Martin Freeman. Yuval’s newest film, based off the novel The English Teacher by Yiftach Reicher Atir, sees Kruger’s Rachel as a Mossad spy gone rogue while working undercover in Tehran, posing as an English teacher while also looking into Iran’s nuclear program. Freeman co-stars as Rachel’s handler Thomas, who travels from Germany to Tehran attempting to track down Rachel.
While the film didn’t get the best response out of the Berlin Film Festival, where it premiered earlier this year (read our review here), Kruger is a gifted actress and when given the right material, she can be phenomenal (see 2017’s In the Fade). Also co-starring Cas Anvar (Room) as Rachel’s target who she becomes romantically involved with. Watch the trailer below:
The Operative opens on Aug. 2.