Our Kind of Traitor

While vacationing in Morocco, a British university lecturer (Ewan McGregor) is befriended by a money launderer for the Russian Mafia who wants to defect (Stellan Skarsgård); reluctantly, the lecturer and his wife (Naomie Harris) are recruited to act as go-betweens between the Russian and an agent for British Intelligence (Damian Lewis). Adapted by Hossein Amini from the novel by John le Carré, the movie follows the same old line le Carré has been peddling for 50 years: The bad guys will always win, and the little guy will be lucky to escape with his life. Still, within that standard formula it’s expertly made—well-acted by all, with director Susanna White ratcheting up the suspense with a sure Hitchcockian hand. Moroccan, French and Swiss locations are handsomely photographed by Anthony Dod Mantle. J.L.