Overview
A surprising encounter reveals the hidden connections between two very different lives in a turbulent era.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- sardonic
- bleak
- witty
- political cinema marathon
- serbian cinema discovery
What critics said
Critics and festival juries broadly recognized the film’s sharp screenplay, darkly comic dialogue, and forceful depiction of a society damaged by repression and transition.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Luka and Teja’s confrontation repeatedly turns oppressive surveillance and national trauma into sharp, uncomfortable humor.
Luka arrives with reports documenting a decade spent shadowing Teja, transforming surveillance into the film’s central dramatic mechanism.
The men’s intertwined lives reveal how political repression, war, and social collapse enter private relationships.
Teja’s new role as a publishing manager contrasts with his former dissident identity amid a society portrayed as morally and economically degraded.
Films like The Professional, and why
The Death of Stalin
shared black comedy, political repression, and absurdist confrontation between opposing worldviews
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
shared post-socialist disillusionment, dark humor, and morally compromised institutions
Underground
shared satirical drama, political violence, and tragicomic portraits of national upheaval
The Lives of Others
shared dialogue-driven black comedy and intimate reckoning with authoritarian history
Movie Details
- Director
- Dušan Kovačević
- Release Date
- 2003-05-21
- Runtime
- 104 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (48)
Cast
- Borivoje Todorović
- Branislav Lečić
- Nataša Ninković
- Dragan Jovanović
- Josif Tatić
- Miodrag 'Miki' Krstović
- Renata Ulmanski
- Gorica Popović
- Aljoša Vučković
- Stole Novaković
Common questions
- What is The Professional about?
- A former secret-service agent confronts the dissident writer he once tracked, forcing a bitterly comic reckoning with Serbia’s authoritarian past.
- What is The Professional like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Professional as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Professional violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Professional as moderate.
- What did critics think of The Professional?
- Critics and festival juries broadly recognized the film’s sharp screenplay, darkly comic dialogue, and forceful depiction of a society damaged by repression and transition.
- Which films are like The Professional?
- Films with a similar feel include The Death of Stalin, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Underground, and The Lives of Others.
- How long is The Professional?
- The Professional runs 104 minutes.
