TRUST, SUSPICION ARE IN THE 'BREACH'.

Byline: Bob Strauss

Film Critic

Robert Hanssen was not only one of the worst traitors in American history, but the FBI agent, who sold secret information to the Russians for 22 years, was also one seriously messed-up soul.

"Breach," which covers the investigation that led to Hanssen's arrest, wisely focuses on the man's intense and contradictory persona. Played by the great Chris Cooper, Hanssen is pious, resentful, conservative, perverted, abrasive, oddly but genuinely paternal and, of course, guilt-ridden, but in a way not seen in movies before. His personality is so uniquely indefinable that his motives for doing what he did can't be explained, either. That makes "Breach" a rare spy thriller, one that is more about true psychological suspense than espionage games.

Though we first encounter Hanssen praying for forgiveness with trembling hands clutching a rosary (his fervor, we later learn, is that of a Catholic convert), we mostly see him through the eyes of his new young assistant Eric O'Neill. Perfectly cast -- Ryan Phillippe's callow prettiness, anxious intelligence and convincing way with a lie are just right for the situation -- O'Neill is assigned to the intimidating veteran to try to catch him in the act of ... something. O'Neill's handlers, spearheaded by a no-nonsense Laura Linney, don't tell him right off what they're exactly after. Probably a good idea, since it enables O'Neill to get past Hanssen's gruff, confrontational facade and appreciate the genuinely warm and caring family man the traitor is as well. Hanssen develops a reciprocal affection that is sometimes intrusive, but the bond that grows between the two men is genuine and deep.

So when he learns the truth about his investigation, O'Neill doesn't know who to believe. As evidence against Hanssen mounts, though, the aspiring young agent proves pretty duplicitous himself.

Cooper, so great in "Adaptation" and "American Beauty" and so much else, definitely leads this superb acting tango. But it's Phillippe's best work to date, too, and he also stages a complex battle of wits with sharp newcomer Caroline Dhavernas, who plays O'Neill's increasingly dubious East German wife, Juliana.

The real O'Neill, now a Washington attorney, was a consultant on "Breach," although his film character is a composite of several Hanssen assistants/watchers. The director is Billy Ray, who -- as he did with "Shattered Glass" -- proves that he has a great talent for isolating the elements of intimate betrayal in a much larger web of treachery and deceit.

Perhaps some may want more moments of physical danger than "Breach" provides, considering it's a national security calamity and all. But Ray finds so much tension and drama in abuses of personal trust that the movie doesn't feel like it's missing much. Rather, it gives us a different kind of grand tragedy than we might expect from this story, about the human need to know oneself and others -- and how that can be more frustrating than finding out the best-kept state secrets.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

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BREACH - Three stars

(PG-13: language, violence, sex)

Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Caroline Dhavernas, Dennis Haysbert.

Director: Billy Ray.

Running time: 1 hr. 50 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Slightly fictionalized tale of a young operative's efforts to take down turncoat FBI agent Robert Hanssen is best when focused on the psychological conflict between the two troubled men.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe, left) is trying to uncover the treachery of his mentor and friend Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) in the spy thriller "Breach."