The 21 best spy movies and series

As you already know, there are many spy movies and series out there. But which ones are the best? Have a look!

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In this series, an adapted version of the renowned 2005 film, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine take on the roles of two lonely individuals who decide to join a spy agency. They are challenged by dangerous missions and the need to maintain a sham marriage.

Photo: Amazon Prime Video

Directed by Ben Affleck who also stars in the lead role, 'Argo' is set during the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. The film focuses on the spectacular hostage situation at the US Embassy in Tehran that took place in the Iran era. Oscar for best film in 2013, it met with great success with the public despite certain liberties taken with historical reality.

'A very secret service' is a scathing satire of the intelligence services and the administration during the time of De Gaulle. The three seasons trace the career of André Merleaux (Hugo Becker), a somewhat naive young recruit from the services who gradually discovers the reality of the profession between the Cold War, the Algerian War, and relations with the former African colonies.

This four-season German series features detectives from the society squad and the political police in the hectic atmosphere of 1920s Berlin. A dizzying cascade of tangled criminal and political intrigues, against the backdrop of the gradual rise of intolerance and nationalism.

'The Bureau', therefore, has established itself as a great series on intelligence. The five seasons released between 2015 and 2020 featured Matthieu Kassovitz at the top of his game in the role of the double agent "Malotru", in a complex, nervous, and never-stereotyped plot. Beyond the genre of espionage, 'The Bureau' gave the feeling that the French series was finally entering the major leagues.

A comedy by the Coen brothers with a remarkable cast (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich…) tells the misadventures of a CIA agent pushed out because of his alcoholism and cheated on by his wife. "Burn After Reading" reminds us that espionage and comedy can go very well together.

A classic from 1960s England, 'Emma Peel: Meine tollsten Abenteuer mit John Steed' shows the refined spy duo formed by John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Emma Peel ( Diana Rigg). This series full of British humor plunges the viewer into a slightly fantastic atmosphere made up of many twists and turns.

'The Constant Gardener' is an adaptation of a novel by John Le Carré (in the photo). The fascinating story of English diplomats in Africa caught in spite of themselves in a universe of corruption and violence, between a powerful pharmaceutical industry and a continent where the AIDS epidemic is raging.

This 2019 mini-series is unfairly overlooked. Its very polished staging shows the return to the country of Czech dissidents in 1989 and only reveals at the very last moment the real commitments of its various protagonists.

The eight-season series released between 2011 and 2020 features an American CIA agent secretly suffering from bipolar disorder and convinced that a former American soldier released by Al-Qaeda has become radicalized and turned against his country of origin. An almost obsessive quest in the heart of an America still traumatized by the specter of Islamist terrorism.

We no longer need to introduce the famous British secret agent, his gadgets, his superb companions, and his adventures from which he emerges miraculously victorious each time, always in the service of Her Majesty. After 25 films made over nearly 60 years and six actors who successively interpreted the character, no one knows today if the series will continue and, if so, which actor will take over from Daniel Craig.

This series of five films started with 'The Bourne Identity' (2002) tells the adventures of the spy Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon. A very realistic saga about the adventures of a former CIA killer who lost his memory and forgot his past.

Released in 2005, 'Munich' by Steven Spielberg shows Mossad's hunt for the terrorists responsible for the assassination of Israeli sportsmen at the Munich Olympics in 1972. The story of a meticulous but unfinished revenge with Eric Bana in the role of major.

A precursor to the genre, this American series from the 1960s features a fictional duo of American spies in the United States at the end of the 19th century. An improbable mixture of Western, fantasy and espionage which makes it an atypical creation.

A creation by Luc Besson with an original aesthetic in the often very sober universe of spy films, with a host of shocking actors: Anne Parillaud, Tchéky Karyo, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Jean Reno. 'Nikita' (1990) depicts the recruitment and adventures in the French services of a young marginal woman of the same name.

The French-speaking public is familiar with the 'OSS 117' saga, named after the slightly ridiculous spy with very politically incorrect jokes, played brilliantly by Jean Dujardin. After 'Cairo, Nest of Spies' (2006) in Nasser's Egypt and 'Rio no Longer Responds' in 1960s Brazil, the last part 'Red Alert in Black Africa' (2021), with Pierre Niney alongside Dujardin, features the famous agent in post-decolonization French-speaking Africa.

A feature film by Robert de Niro with a cast of several big names in Hollywood: De Niro himself, Joe Pesci, Matt Damon, and Angelina Jolie. The story of a CIA agent, of his rise, but also of his sacrifices and his doubts, at the time of the Cold War and the aborted Bay of Pigs landings.

Directed by Oliver Stone in 2016, 'Snowden' retraces the journey of Edward Snowden, the NSA agent who disclosed the incredible wiretapping system operated by the American security agency and triggered a resounding scandal in the entire world.

This adaptation of another bestseller by John Le Carré, released in France in 2012, depicts, at the heart of the Cold War, the hunt for the Soviet "mole" who infiltrated the highest circles of British intelligence. A former director of MI6, played by Gary Oldman, returns to work to flush out the undercover agent, in a breathless staging that maintains suspense until the very last moment.

When Éric Rohmer tried his hand at spy film, it resulted in 'Triple Agent', the original story of a Russian exile in Paris in the 1930s, at the time of the Spanish Civil War and the rise of fascism all over Europe. The character who dreamed of being a hero will be shattered by the relentless mechanics of history.

A fascinating immersion in the surveillance mechanism that plagued the whole of East German society at the time of the Wall: a system so stifling that it ended up making its most zealous collaborators doubt. This chilling historical fresco from 2006 is now one of the classics of the genre.

Pictured is lead actor Ulrich Muhe.

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