Red Sparrow follows the story of Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence), a world famous Russian ballerina dancer whose devotion to her mother outweighs any other desire. After a career ending injury, Dominika is left with nothing and no way to pay for her mother’s hospital bills. Her uncle, Vanya Egorov, offers to help her if she can do one simple task for him. What Dominika doesn’t know is that Egorov has plans to turn her into a master of seduction and manipulation.
The film takes place in Russia, which first of all, makes it extremely hard to understand. I was forced to turn subtitles on 10 minutes into the first scene. Right off the bat, we are introduced to our protagonists, Dominika and Nate Nash, a secret agent for the CIA. I was pleased at how they introduced both of these characters. We get a glimpse of who each of these people are before they even meet each other. Dominika is preparing for her ballet recital while Nate is doing CIA undercover work by himself. We see shots of each of these overlapping scenes up until Dominika’s career ending enjury. Not a bad way to start a film in my opinion.
Three months after her injury, Dominika is almost out of money. During this time, we see a dark side of her that comes out when she catches her dance partner/boyfriend cheating on her with a new dance partner. I won’t go into detail but her weapon of choice was a golf club. This ferocity shows the audience that Dominika has been through too much to be messed with. With no one else to turn to, Dominika is forced to accept a job her uncle has asked her to do. The job is to seduce a Russian government leader in an effort to get him alone so that Egorov and his men can assassinate him.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect at this point in the film but I got a pretty good idea after this scene. Being a master of seduction requires a lot from an individual. One of those requirements is that they must give up their “whole” body to whom they are seducing. This scene that I am referring to is uncomfortable in so many ways but luckily it’s early in the film so we get it over with quick.
After this scarring experience, Dominika is interrogated for seeing what she was not supposed to see. Because her uncle made a deal with the Russian program, Dominika is sent to a boarding school where she is taught how to be a sparrow, which are masters of seduction and manipulation. Here, she learns the skills she needs to break away from this life she was forced into. She is eventually kicked out of the school and sent back home for not abiding by their rules. Her uncle, however, has other plans for her and assigns her to spy on Nate Nash, the CIA agent we were introduced to early on in the film.
I don’t need to explain the rest of the film in as much detail because from here it gets a little confusing. Dominika begins manipulating every government she comes in contact with to get what she wants. First she’s working with her uncle, then she’s working with the Americans, then she’s working with her uncle again, then she’s working with the Americans again. I couldn’t figure out why everyone kept trusting her.
Other than the confusing plot line, I do have some good things to say about the film. I enjoyed the art style of the director. The color red was extremely prevalent throughout the film, which was nice to see considering the title. Red also represents sexuality and blood, two of the main themes in this film. As far as the score is concerned, I got a great sense of uneasiness throughout the film due to the music being heavily classical.
All in all, Red Sparrow was an okay film. I was a little confused with the plot but the artistic style made up for that. The characters were a bit boring and hard to keep track of but the acting was spectacular. I am still scarred by one or two of the scenes in the film so if you are going to watch it, watch with a buddy.
