Anna: what are the anachronisms present in this film?

Released in cinemas in 2019, the film Anna, worn by Sasha Luss, Cillian Murphy, Luke Evans and Helen Mirren, will be broadcast on Sunday, January 16, 2022, from 9:05 p.m. on TF1.Directed by Luc Besson, this feature film begins in Moscow in 1985. During the same day, nine CIA agents are eliminated by the KGB on the orders of its director Vasiliev, embodied on screen by the Belgian actor Éric Godon. Two years later, the KGB is interested in the young Anna Poliatova, performed by Sasha Luss. Leading a miserable life at the expense of her boyfriend Petya, she is ready to do anything to escape her daily life. Recruited by Alexander Tchenkov, played by Luke Evans, who trained her for two and a half years, she was introduced to the very demanding Olga, performed by Helen Mirren.

Following a successful test mission, Anna begins her career. Six months later, she embodies a seller of matryoshkas in a market in order to be recruited to become a model in Paris, with the aim of getting close to Oleg Vilenkov and eliminating him. The operation goes so well that Anna is not suspected by CIA agent Leonard Miller, played by Cillian Murphy. From mission to mission, Anna learned the trade. When she meets Vasiliev, he tells her that she can never leave the KGB, contrary to Alexander’s promise of freedom after 5 years of service. When an opportunity to regain freedom arises, Anna accepts it without hesitation.

Anna: a film far ahead of its time in terms of technology

With a production budget of 30 million euros, this feature film only collected $ 31 million during its theatrical release. A commercial failure attributed in part to the multiple anachronisms present on the screen. Whereas the story is supposed to take place in the 90s, the characters use cell phones matching the size and appearance of commercially available devices in the very early 2000s, and even send text messages to each other. Anna’s character meanwhile uses a flat-screen laptop computer in 1987. In addition, she seems to be using the internet through a Wi-Fi network, which did not yet exist at the time. Furthermore, during a scene that takes place at the KGB headquarters, the main character uses a laptop computer with a USB port, to copy data via a USB flash drive.

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