Rogue Agent

Robert Freegard presents himself as an MI5 officer and convinces people they are under threat from the IRA: cut off your family, leave your friends, hand me the money, you have to disappear. Over years he detached several people from their lives this way. Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn made the film from the real case; between 1993 and 2002 Freegard took around a million pounds. The second half shifts to Alice, a solicitor and his last target, and the film turns from a portrait of a conman into a pursuit. James Norton plays Freegard without caricature and Gemma Arterton plays Alice. Its best decision is refusing to interrogate why the victims believed him. Who it is for: viewers who like true fraud cases and stories of psychological manipulation. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a conventional spy thriller, since there is no real agent here.