The Interpreter

2005 Directed by Sydney Pollack

The truth needs no translation.

After Silvia Broome, an interpreter at United Nations headquarters, overhears plans of an assassination, an American Secret Service agent is sent to investigate.

Nicole Kidman Sean Penn Catherine Keener Jesper Christensen Yvan Attal Earl Cameron George Harris Michael Wright Clyde Kusatsu Eric Keenleyside Hugo Speer Maz Jobrani Yusuf Gatewood Curtiss Cook Byron Utley Robert Clohessy Terry Serpico Vladimir Bibic David Zayas Pat Kiernan Margot Staub Sydney Pollack John Di Benedetto Gerry Robert Byrne Robert Myers Okwui Okpokwasili Lynne Deragon Christopher Evan Welch Tsai Chin Show All…

Alternative Titles

Prevodilac, 雙面翻譯, Tõlk, I diermineas, Prevoditeljica, Tolken, L'interprète, Die Dolmetscherin

thriller crime

128 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Jordan Beaumont Anderson ★★ 3

I don't recall seeing you around.
They hire us for our forgettable faces. says Sean Penn, a man who looks like his parents were a catchers mitt and Nigel Thornberry.
--
Directors and writers claim they use fictional African nations to stage their political potboiler carnage to avoid inadvertently offending a real nation, but I think we all know it's because Americans can't be fucked to differentiate any African nations at all.
I appreciate the narrative's attempt to explain to colonialist peoples that they're living in the DisneyLand of societies, but it likely would've had more impact if it wasn't coming from the whitest woman who has ever lived.
Review by Steve G 🐝 ★★ 4

The Box Office Bashing Season: 2003 to 2014
Well this didn't go according to plan at all, did it?
Sydney Pollack directing a political thriller starring Sean Bean*, Nicole Kidman and Catherine Keener - and it's a great big dud. What a huge disappointment and a real shame that Pollack's directorial career ended on this note because he probably deserved it to end on something a lot better. But really, it's difficult to know who else to blame.
Penn is very good here, it must be said. I felt initially that he was a bit miscast here and I wasn't sure he on the right level to be playing a grieving workaholic. He's probably given far too many scenes where…
Review by Andy Summers ★★★½

Back in 2005 Sydney Pollack brought together his acting dream team in the shape of Oscar winners Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman for a U.N set political thriller centered on some African despot who reminded me a lot of Robert Mugabe.
Kidman plays a U.N. interpreter with a past who overhears a potential plot to assassinate the corrupt president of her own fictional African country. It's a generic yet enjoyable thriller with red-herrings and plot twists that can be seen coming long before the payoff. It is however done with Pollack's usual sharp visual style and a script that gets the best out of all involved. Pollack makes the most of a convoluted plot and a fine performance from Penn…
Review by Dawson Joyce ★★★½

Its plot may not exactly be remarkable and it admittedly could've done more to grab the viewer's attention, but The Interpreter is nonetheless a solidly put together and decently crafted political thriller with typically sharp and visually stylish direction from the late great Sydney Pollack and strong performances from Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, and Catherine Keener.
Review by Sam Herbst ★★½

At one point I thought this movie was over and I looked and I‎t was exactly the 50% mark.
Review by andreia ★★

i'm disappointed with the lack of interpreting
Review by Maria ★★★ 2

"Even the lowest whisper can be heard over armies when it’s telling the truth."
A reminder of how powerful language is. Nicole Kidman, the titular interpreter, grapples with it throughout the entire film. She believed in it once, she lost hope, but she believes in it again. Her work for the UN is important, necessary; the interpretation of language is the only way we—people and countries—can communicate with one another. But it's a shaky belief—guns are a tempting tool, a tempting weapon, they're so much easier and more foolproof than language. Misinterpreting can cause as much damage as a bullet. But even if guns harm, they don't lie; words, however, are duplicitous. It's no wonder Sean Penn's Secret Service agent…
Review by Ash ★★★★

This was nice. Nice as in entertaining. Had some gorgeous shots of New York, sure, but it’s also a fascinating film with a compelling Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn at its forefront. Great.
Review by Tessa ★★★

Sean Penn is so hot in this film I can forgive him for his atrocious Secret Service talking into wrist acting.
“You never know who you’re going to meet, do you?”
Review by Kerry Maxwell ★★★★ 1

As a political thriller, Sydney Pollack's The Interpreter doesn't have the same gritty and economical grip of classic 70's-era examples of the genre (including his own 3 Days of the Condor), and even violates one of my personal rules of genre purity: no explosions. But it's A Damn Fine Film with very engaging performances and a very attractive texture to the look of the film. Sure, it's convoluted and implausible, but I found it very enjoyable.
Review by TajLV ★★★

Lots of twists and turns, good solid plot, and fine acting. I thought the end was a bit of a letdown, but getting there was worth the viewing. Sean Penn has turned into a very mature actor, and teaming him up with Nicole Kidman was a brilliant casting achievement. Kidman’s Afrikan accent is hypnotic. And Penn has mastered a stoic look that’s pin-up perfect. Lots of good supporting roles, too. Keep your eyes on the screen during the bus scene. There’s a lot going on there as various storylines merge.
Review by Ed Küpfer ★★

Low wattage political thriller. Hollywood used to make these things by the dozens. There are much better examples than this movie.

Recent reviews

Review by ekngln ★★★

The optics of Nicole Kidman, an Australian, playing someone from a made-up African country, make this somewhat bearable thriller a cringe fest.
At least the bus scene and seeing Catherine Keener was exciting!
Review by DimitrijeDimi ★★★★

As a political thriller, Sydney Pollack's The Interpreter
doesn't have the same gritty and economical grip of
classic 70's-era examples of the genre (including his
Own 3 Days of the Condor), and even violates one of
my personal rules of genre purity: no explosions. But
it's A Damn Fine Film with very engaging
performances anda very attractive texture to the
look of the film. Sure, it's convoluted and
implausible, but I found it very enjoyable.
Review by Stephan Brenneisen ★★★

Die Dolmetscherin unter der Regie von Sydney Pollack - seiner letzten Regiearbeit - stammt zwar aus dem Jahr 2005, fühlt sich aber über weite Strecken fast schon nach einem klassischen 70er-Jahre-Thriller an, mit zwei gut aufspielenden Nicole Kidman und Sean Penn der von Anfang bis Ende zu fesseln weiß und vor allem in den Momenten im Hauptsitz der Vereinten Nationen mit schönen Momenten der Spannung überzeugen kann. Die Verschwörungsgeschichte ist wohl bekannt, wird aber gut von Pollack, Kidman und Penn rübergebracht und sogar der kleine Twist zum Ende hin weiß zu gefallen. So ist Die Dolmetscherin am Ende ein guter Thriller, bei dem aber auch irgendwie etwas mehr drin gewesen wäre. Aber fesselnd ist er auf jeden Fall.
Review by Jordan Beaumont Anderson ★★ 3

I don't recall seeing you around.
They hire us for our forgettable faces. says Sean Penn, a man who looks like his parents were a catchers mitt and Nigel Thornberry.
--
Directors and writers claim they use fictional African nations to stage their political potboiler carnage to avoid inadvertently offending a real nation, but I think we all know it's because Americans can't be fucked to differentiate any African nations at all.
I appreciate the narrative's attempt to explain to colonialist peoples that they're living in the DisneyLand of societies, but it likely would've had more impact if it wasn't coming from the whitest woman who has ever lived.
Review by mfaiella2 ★★

Way too convoluted, never hooked my interest in the characters, wasted 15 minutes acting like Kidman may have made the whole thing up when we already saw she didn't, cringey dialogue in the quieter scenes, borderline silly ending implying that the ICC has power to hold the guy to account
Review by Şule Kalkan ★★

konu çok ilgi çekiciydi fakat....
Review by laura ★★

pleasantly surprised at the lack of straight romance
Review by natasha ★★★

maybe i need to watch it again to understand it properly but damn this was confusing
Review by candan ★★

artı bir puan nicole kidman güzelliği için.
Review by dougokeefe ★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Sydney Pollack can direct a thriller: this thing zooms along without a wasted moment. Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, and Catherine Keener are great. It's fun. There is nothing to it--this is not a political thriller in any sense except for the environment in which the film takes place, the United Nations. The analysis of power goes not much deeper than, "Reformers always become genocidal dictators--isn't it awful?" So this ain't no Battle of Algiers. Still, as I say, pretty fun.
Well, I wrote that before I finished. I think the film bogged down a little, and I think there's a problem: Pollack works hard to make us wonder if Kidman is somehow involved in the presumptive assassination, but the whole…
Review by cansu ★★

ilk yarısı güzeldi devamı mehh gerek yok izlemeye. aksiyon filmiysen aksiyon filmi ol, politik bi filmsen politik ol.. sonuç olarak: olmamış film
Review by _skumair ★★★

Lets count down from the best possible version of the movie: 10/10
Starting Sequence
It only gave me the emotional significance of the movie's theme. It did it well, but I wish it also performed a narrative function as to what the rest of the movie is going to be about: -1
Directing
I think some scenes were unnecessarily long. The movie wasn't driven by a unique environment that the movie had to craft and convey, so those long held shots were unnecessary, for example the establishing shots when the metal detector wasn't working. The driving sequence when they were taking the dictator to the UN Assembly: -2
Identity
I think the movie lacked an identity. I don't completely understand what it was about. Like why was the confusing relationship (i think it was platonic) between the Nicole Kidman's and Sean Penn's character there. Is it about the tragedy that is: mutated political revolution: -1
THUS: 6/10