Red Sparrow (Film)

The ***Red Sparrow*** movie is an adaptation of the book by the same name and written by Jason Matthews. Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film was shot in 2017 from January 5th to May 10th. Starring Jennifer Lawrence as Dominika Egorova and Joel Edgerton as Nate Nash, the film had a budget of $69 million and grossed $151.3 million. Red Sparrow was released on March 2, 2018.

## Plot

Ballerina **Dominika Egorova** is recruited to "Sparrow School", a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon. Her first mission, targeting a C.I.A. agent, threatens to unravel the security of both nations.

## Cast

* Jennifer Lawrence as Dominika Egorova
* Matthias Schoenaerts as Vanya Egorov
* Joel Edgerton as Nathaniel Nash
* Jeremy Irons as General Korchnoi
* Bill Camp as Marty Gable
* Sakina Jaffrey as Trish Forsyth
* Mary-Louise Parker as Stephanie Boucher
* Thekla Reuten as Marta
* Sebastian Hülk as Matorin
* Kristof Konrad as Dimitri Ustinov
* Sergei Polunin as Konstantin
* Nicole O'Neal as Sonya
* Sasha Frolova as Anya

## Soundtrack

### Original score

By composer and musician **James Newton Howard**, the soundtrack is currently available on Spotify. Tracklist below.

1. Overture (11:34)
2. The Steam Room (2:19)
3. One Night is All I Ask (1:30)
4. Take Off Your Dress (6:20)
5. Arriving at Sparrow School (2:51)
6. Training (1:43)
7. Anya, Come Here (2:45)
8. When Did You First Notice the Tail? (1:04)
9. There's a Car Waiting To Take You to Moscow (1:50)
10. Follow the Trail Whenever It Leads You (2:30)
11. Blonde Suits You (4:59)
12. Searching Marta's Room (2:23)
13. Ticket To Vienna (1:45)
14. Telephone Code (1:10)
15. Searching Nate's Apartment (1:04)
16. Can I Trust You? (3:06)
17. Switchng Disks (6:00)
18. So What Next? (3:45)
19. Didn't I Do Well? (8:48)
20. End Titles (9:30)

### Featured songs

* Opus 40, no. 6 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

* Wish - Vika

* Andante (Piano Sonata No. 1 in C, K.279) - Mitsuko Uchida

* Allegro Maestoso (Piano Sonata No. 8 in A Minor, K.310) - Mitsuko Uchida

* Swoopin - Baauer

* Adagio - Allegro - Andantino - Più Allegro - Tempo I (Fantasia in C Minor K475) - Mitsuko Uchida

* Adagio (Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16) - Stephen Kovacevitch, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis (as Sir Colin Davis)

* Brandenburg Concerto #1 in F Major, BWV 1046 - Bach Collegium Japan, Conducted by Masaaki Suzuki

* Age of Mutation - Combichrist

* 28b. Pas de Deux: Adagio (The Sleeping Beauty, op. 66, th.13 / Act 3) - National Philharmonic Orchestra (as The National Philharmonic Orchestra), Richard Bonynge

## Differences between novel and film

### 1. Vassily's death

* While in the novel Dominika's father (Vassily Egorov) is still alive, the character does not appear in the film. Her father's death is only mentioned and do not occour after her concussion as it happens in the novel.

### 2. Dominika's accident

* In the film, Dominika's concussion happened when she was performing with Konstantin on a full theatre at Moscow. While performing a jump, Konstantin fell with his feet over Dominika's left shin, breaking it in half. In the novel though, Konstantin causes a Lisfranc Injury on Dominika's foot by stepping on her during the *pas de deux*. The concussion happened during their regular practicing.

### 3. Dominika's revenge and Vanya's involvement

* In the novel, Dominika's revenge happened when she sighted Sonya and Konstantin having sexual intercourses in the ballet academy's steam room. Knowing their relationship was prohibited at the academy, she got the staff's attention by opening a window and turning the lights on. A few minutes later the governess caught the couple naked in the steam room, which would get them expelled from the ballet academy.
In the film, Vanya Egorov gave Dominika a recording that proved Sonya and Konstantin planned to sabotage her career. Looking for revenge, she went back to the ballet academy, where she found Sonya and Konstantin naked in the steam room. Still recovering from her injury, Dominika used her walking stick to beat the couple. She walked out of the room leaving them bleeding on the floor.

### 4. Ustinov's assassination

* In the film, it is not clear how Dominika knew Ustinov before she was recruited for his assassination. Apparently, Ustinov and Vanya Egorov knew each other, since both of them took a picture together with Dominika and Konstantin before their performance at the theatre. In the novel though, SVR sent Dominika to a television building with the purpose of meeting Ustinov and getting a date with him (as she did), and Vanya didn't have contact with the politician.
* According to the novel, Dominika and Ustinov had a date at a fancy restaurant and later headed to Ustinov's apartment. As the narrator says, Dominika was aware of the implicit sex demanded by the black operation. Differing from the novel, Dominika and Ustinov met at a hotel and headed to one of the rooms. Dominika tried to avoid Ustinov's attempts but was raped by him.
* While in the film Dominika had to steal information from Ustinov's celphone, in the novel she needed to talk to Ustinov to get any information about his schedules and contacts and pass the information to the SVR.
* In the novel, Matorin appears from the bedroom's skylight, while in the film he appears from the porch.

### 5. Dominika's training

* Dominika's training at the AVR was omitted in the film. Vanya planned to give Dominika a minor bureaucratic job at the SVR so they could keep eyes on her. But Dominika herself explained that she rather be a intelligence officer instead. By the end of her training period, Vanya sent her to the Sparrow School, making her feel outraged. In the film, Dominika was trained only by the Sparrow School, to which she was sent by Vanya right after Ustinov's assassination.

### 6. Sparrow School

* The attempt of rape Dominika suffered while showering it's quite similar to what the novel describes, however, it happened while she was training at the AVR program, not at the Sparrow School as it happens in the film.
* Dominika is sent to her operation before her training at the Sparrow School is finished, differing from the novel.
* Anya's suicide was omitted in the film, as well as her bond with Dominika.

### 7. Helsinki vs Budapest

* After training at Sparrow School, Dominika is sent to Helsinki so she can follow Nate, who was transfered from Moscow to CIA's Helsinki Station. In the film this was set in Budapest and other locations inside Hungary instead.
* As it appears in the novel, the public pool Nate attended in Helsinki was the Yrjonkadun Swimming Hall. In the film the pool is set in the The Fabó Éva Swimming Pool (in Dunaújváros, Hungary).

### 8. Marta Yelenova

* In the film, Marta is Dominika's roomate while in the novel they never share an apartment, they knew each other from the SVR's Helsinki rezidentura and were good friends.
* While in the film Marta was working to get Stephanie Boucher as a mole, in the novel Marta never knew Boucher; in fact, she worked as an administrative assistant for the SVR.
* Marta's death in the film is related to Dominika telling her about Ustinov. In the novel, she was murdered for a different reason: Volontov sent Matorin to kill her because he didn't like how disrespectful Marta was towards him and how she could influence Dominika's attitude as well.

### 9. Tom Forsyth vs Trish Forsyth

* In the novel, Tom Forysthis CIA's Chief of Station in Helsinki. However, in the movie the character appears as a female, named Trish Forsyth (portrayed by Sakina Jaffrey).

### 10. Boucher/SWAN

* In the novel, Senator Stephanie Boucher didn't work with Marta (as mentioned before), her handler was a man called Anatoly Golov.
* Despite being the person who reported SWAN to the CIA, in the novel Dominika didn't know about her real identity neither met her as it happened in the film.
* Differing from the film, Boucher worked inside of the US and didn't have any contact with Volontov, Marta or Dominika. Golov was the only person from the SVR she was in contact to.
* In the novel, Boucher kills herself with poison to avoid being arrested by the FBI, while in the film she dies accidentally hit by a truck.

### 11. Maxim Volontov

* In the film, Volontov didn't know Dominika was Vanya's niece until she was captured by the SVR. In the novel, Volontov knew about their connection, in fact, it was a common knowledge in the service.
* Volontov and Marta's conspiracy didn't happen in the novel, since Marta didn't have a mole. They actually didn't get along.
* Volontov is not killed in the book.

### 12. Matorin's death

* In the film, Dominika and Nate were at his apartment in Budapest when Matorin broke in to interrogate and torture him. In the novel this was set in Dominika's hotel room in Athens.
* The peeling skin torture equipment used by Matorin does not appear in the novel.
* While in the film Dominika kills Matorin using a knife, in the novel she kills him using the syringes Matorin was carring to drug Nate.

### 13. Korchnoi vs Vanya (the plot twist)

* In the Red Sparrow book, Korchnoi becomes a mentor to Dominika as they had a closer relationship. He also planned being replaced by her.
* Differing from the film, Korchnoi's identity is discovered by the russians and he is the one who ends up killed by a sniper during the exchange.
* Vanya is alive by the end of the novel since Dominika didn't incriminate him with fake evidences.

### 14. The international exchange

* In the film, the exchange between MARBLE and Dominika happens in a heliport. In the book it happens in a bridge that connects Estonia to Russia. This was changed to avoid comparisons to Steven Spielberg’s "Bridge of Spies".

## Gallery

### Posters

Official poster.Alternative poster.IMAX poster.French poster.
### Trailers and clips

Red Sparrow Official Trailer HD 20th Century FOXRed Sparrow "Are We Going To Become Friends?" Clip 20th Century FOXRed Sparrow "Hold Something Back" Clip 20th Century FOX
## References

1. ↑ IMDB
2. ↑ Spotify: Red Sparrow (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - By James Newton Howard
3. ↑ IMDB: Red Sparrow Soundtracks
4. ↑ Film School Rejects: 32 Things We Learned from the 'Red Sparrow' Commentary