Breach

Director Billy Ray follows his Shattered Glass with another true-life tale of deception and mendacity, this about an FBI mole who for two decades was passing secrets to the Russians while passing himself off as a pious Catholic straightshooter. The always-interesting Chris Cooper plays Robert Hanssen in the months before he was caught in early 2001, with Ryan Phillippe as the mole’s mole who serves as his clerk and driver, and Laura Linney as the latter’s FBI case agent in bringing down the former. The film has an impressive tenor of D.C. institutional veracity (the clerk’s real-life model was an on-set technical advisor), with authentic performances, especially by Cooper, and understated but gripping suspense. For example, instead of a car chase, the film features a scene of ratcheting tension in gridlock on the parkway. All it really lacks is some final insight into what made Hanssen tick, though its reticence about coming to a simple explanation is probably a virtue. (2007, dvd, n.) *7-* (MC-74.)