The Secret Agent

Play trailer

1:44

The Secret Agent

R

Now Playing

2h 38m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

History

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

99%

Tomatometer

139 Reviews

89%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting. Winner of Best Director and Best Actor in Cannes.

Now in Theaters

Now Playing

Buy Tickets

Critics Consensus

A thematically rich and visually arresting political thriller, The Secret Agent blends grindhouse stylization with biting social commentary to weave a vividly dangerous yet darkly human tale.

Read Critics Reviews

Max Weiss

Baltimore Magazine

2d

3.5/4

The Secret Agent is a feast of sorts, overstuffed and beautiful, funny and sad.

Go to Full Review

Michael Andor Brodeur

Washington Post

5d

4/4

The Secret Agent suggests something more consequential with its gripping portrait of political resistance: that survival is a matter of both watching and watching over one another.

Go to Full Review

Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

6d

4.5/5

The period detail is a marvel, the era’s music a most excellent groove, and the cast a top-to-bottom wowzer of interesting faces and eclectic bodies.

Go to Full Review

Dustin Chang

Floating World

11h

The Secret Agent is about rebuking anti-intellectualism by having university researchers both past and present the heroes of the film which is also very pertinent in our own political climate.

Go to Full Review

Ryan Swen

Taipei Mansions

19h

The scale afforded here allows for the most vivid canvas Mendonça Filho has ever painted on.

Go to Full Review

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

1d

C+

Suspense builds in the first three-quarters of the film towards a violent confrontation, but suddenly, the dramatic brakes are applied, and it all ends in an anticlimax, almost like the director ran out of film.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Rosalind R

1d

One of the best movies Ive seen in a long time!

See more

Patrick

2d

While the acting was excellent, the plot was nearly impossible to follow, and I felt underwhelmed witht the ending. Based on various reviews, I was expecting a much better movie, and I was definitley disappointed with "The Secret Agent".

See more

Rodney F

3d

Great film. Definitely worth a rewatch. Explores some great themes on memory, identity, and things that are hidden, masked, or taken away from us.

See more

LF

3d

Had to pay close attention which I appreciate

See more

Jonathan N

3d

Best Film of 2025, hands down. Noir, comedy, spy thriller, dystopian hellscape of the Brazilian historical junta, explicit gay and hetero sex, thugs, homage to 1970s cinema- even some horror fantasy! WOW. Haven’t been this impressed by amalgamation of genres since EEAAO, nor as impressed by time fracture in service of storytelling since Egoyan’s “The Sweet Hereafter.” D@&n. What f-ing good filmmaking. And good naturalistic writing. The story is slowly revealed in a way that’s never annoying, but completely enrapturing. I wish this kind of film was more a feature, and less of a bug, of contemporary cinema.

See more

Harriet M

3d

I wanted to like it, due to my personal history with Brazil of that era, but couldnt find reason to.. compared to Ainda Estou aqui, it fails on all counts.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Kleber Mendonça Filho

Director

Wagner Moura

Marcelo Alves

Sebastiana de Medeiros

Dona Sebastiana

Udo Kier

Hans

Gabriel Leone

Bobbi

Maria Fernanda Cândido

Elza

Awards Leaderboard: Best Movies of 2025

One Battle After Another Takes Best Film at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards

The Secret Agent: Trailer 1

1:44

The Secret Agent: Teaser Trailer

1:10

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting. Winner of Best Director and Best Actor in Cannes.

Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Producer: Emilie Lesclaux, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Wagner Moura, Brent Travers
Screenwriter: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Distributor: NEON
Production Co: CinemaScópio Produções, Arte France Cinema, Black Rabbit Media, MK2 Films, Vitrine Filmes
Rating: R (Some Full Nudity|Sexual Content|Language|Strong Bloody Violence)
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller, History
Original Language: Brazilian Portuguese
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 26, 2025, Limited
Box Office (Gross USA): $975.3K
Runtime: 2h 38m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Digital 2.39:1

Most Popular at Home Now