

The Russia House
Their love was as dangerous as the secrets they kept.
Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.
TMDB
6.1/10
342 votes
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Not rated yet
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- Status
- Released
- Budget
- $21.8M
- Box office
- $23M
- Language
- English
- central intelligence agency (cia)
- based on novel or book
- secret mission
- lisbon, portugal
- ex-lover
- soviet union
- nuclear scientist
- moscow, russia
Top billed cast

















Behind the camera
Director
Writers
Music
Produced in
United States of America, Soviet Union
Where to watch
All optionsAvailability for India. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.
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Release dates
United StatesUS
- TheatricalR21 Dec 1990
United KingdomGB
- Theatrical22 Feb 1991
AustraliaAU
- Theatrical11 Apr 1991
CanadaCA
- Physical26 Dec 2001
ArgentinaAR
- Theatrical7 Mar 1991
BelgiumBE
- Theatrical4 Apr 1991
BrazilBR
- TheatricalL13 Mar 1991
- Theatrical3 Jan 1992
CzechiaCZ
- Physical15+1 Jun 1993
DenmarkDK
- Theatrical26 Apr 1991
FinlandFI
- Theatrical10 May 1991
FranceFR
- TheatricalTP20 Mar 1991
- PhysicalDVD24 Apr 2002
- PhysicalBlu-Ray21 Aug 2012
GermanyDE
- Theatrical1213 Mar 1991
Frequently asked questions
The Russia House was released on 21 December 1990.
Audience reviews
3- W6/10
Wuchak
12/16/2020
_**Artistic production with Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, but uninteresting spy story**_ A few years before the fall of the Soviet Union, a boozy English publisher named Barley (Sean Connery) is sent a mysterious manuscript via a beautiful Russian editor named Katya (Michelle Pfeiffer), but it’s intercepted by British intelligence and Barley is coerced into going to Moscow & Leningrad to meet with Katya and …
- C6/10
CinemaSerf
12/8/2024
Sean Connery at least looks like he's having some fun in this otherwise rather dry adaptation of the John Le Carré tale of Cold War espionage. He's "Barley", a publisher who is recruited by MI5 to investigate a secret document sent from the USSR purporting to itemise their nuclear arsenal. Needless to say both the British and their CIA counterparts are wetting themselves at the very thought of this being real, but th…
- K
kevin2019
9/17/2026
"The Russia House" amply illustrates that the global bestselling author John le Carre wasn't just marvellous at creating intriguing central ideas which would no doubt send both the American and British Security Services into a salivating frenzy (as it does here), but he was also perfectly capable of developing such terrific ideas into convincing novels. This film is based upon his 1989 novel of the same name and it s…
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