The Partisan

Director: James Marquand
Script: James Marquand
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Morgane Polanski, Steve Waddington, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Frederick Schmidt, Grégoire Colin, Piotr Adamczyk, Agata Kulesza
Running time: 108 minutes
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15

Currently doing the rounds at selected cinemas, and soon to be streaming from the 27^th October, The Partisan tells the story of Krystyna Skarbek, a Polish woman who becomes the first female to spy for the British in Nazi Germany, during World War II.  Being the fearless and headstrong woman that she is, Krystyna – played with much gusto by Morgane Polanski (yes, the daughter of the famous director) – persuades a shadowy British agent, known only as Trenchcoat (Malcolm McDowell), to send her into Nazi-occupied Poland, to help gather Intel. However, she has her own reasons to go there, for sure, as in the fact that her mother’s life is in extreme danger – but it’s not long before we realise that Krystyna is something of an adrenaline junkie and seems to thrive on stress, one-night stands, and acts of derring-do in the face of great danger.

Unfortunately, Krystyna’s mission doesn’t go to plan – do they ever – although she narrowly escapes, but sadly suffers a huge personal loss in the process and vows to make her life count going forward.

Four years later, hardened by the horrors of war and having proven herself time and time again, the resolute spy is parachuted into southern France, where her mission is to assess the fragmented French Resistance and greenlight a major British weapons drop, assuming the French are deemed trustworthy and capable enough to make good use of it.

Going undercover as a schoolteacher, Krystyna infiltrates a resistance network that’s on the edge of collapse. When betrayal surfaces and the resistance are nearly destroyed, Krystyna defies orders and takes a reckless stand. Alongside her are legendary, but broken spy Roger (Frederick Schmidt) and the fierce resistance leader Armand (Ingvar Sigurdsson, Everest, The Northman). They choose to bait the German spy hunters into a fatal ambush; however, victory could go either way…

Whilst The Partisan is a well-made film, and one that looks impressive, with some great production values through its use of authentic period vehicles and costumes, etc. it left me a little cold, probably because the central characters are difficult to truly like. While one can relate to their difficult ‘journeys’, to a degree, I found it hard to properly get under their skin, which made me somewhat indifferent to their hardships.

Perhaps this was because the story was told in a rather clumsy way and maybe because it focused on just two of her missions, set four years apart, it lacked some of the cohesion that might have developed if the ‘adventures’ had rolled into one another more seamlessly. Or maybe I just wasn’t in the right ‘headspace’ to get the most from the film at the time I watched it. Who knows, but I felt there was just something ‘off’ about the movie.

The acting is of a generally high standard, the music by Joe Wilson Davies was suitably moody and atmospheric, and, as I said before, the production design was excellent. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that the war scenes were anything spectacular, nor very well shot; their impact often lost in a strange choice of shots, or some so-so editing choices. The cast is led by Morgana Polanski, daughter of Roman, who does an okay job of portraying our heroine, but clearly didn’t make the character ‘shine’ enough for me to truly ‘embrace’ her. And, while it was great to see Malcolm McDowell, his role is pretty small and his performance is not up to his usual standard.

While Skarbek is often described as Britain’s ‘most glamorous spy’ after the war she ended up as a cleaner and her life was senselessly ended when she was stabbed to death in 1952, in London, by an obsessed and spurned suitor, who was subsequently hanged for the murder.

The Partisan is certainly worth a watch, if only because it celebrates the life of a truly brave woman, who deserves to be remembered for saving a number of lives and making a real difference to the allied war effort.