Smoke & Mirrors
Theatrical release poster
Spanish	El hombre de las mil caras
Directed by	Alberto Rodríguez
Screenplay by	Rafael Cobos Alberto Rodríguez
Based on	Paesa, el espía de las mil caras by Manuel Cerdán
Produced by	Antonio Asensio José Antonio Félez Mercedes Gamero Gervasio Iglesias Mikel Lejarza Francisco Ramos
Starring	Eduard Fernández José Coronado Marta Etura Carlos Santos Enric Benavent Alba Galocha Philippe Rebbot Pedro Casablanc Israel Elejalde Tomás del Estal Jons Pappila Luis Callejo Mireia Portas Craig Stevenson Emilio Gutiérrez Caba
Cinematography	Alex Catalán
Edited by	José M. G. Moyano
Music by	Julio de la Rosa
Production companies	Zeta Cinema Atresmedia Cine Atípica Films Sacromonte
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	17 September 2016 (2016-09-17) (San Sebastián) 23 September 2016 (2016-09-23) (Spain)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish

Smoke & Mirrors (Spanish:El hombre de las mil caras) is a 2016 Spanishthriller film directed byAlberto Rodríguez based on the 2006 non-fiction bookPaesa, el espía de las mil caras by Manuel Cerdán.^[1] The film starsEduard Fernández asFrancisco Paesa, a former agent of theSpanish secret service who faked his own death after an infamous corruption scandal.

Francisco Paesa — an ex-secret agent for the Spanish government who was instrumental in the most important operation against the Basque terrorist groupETA — is framed by his own government and forced to leave the country. When he is finally able to return to Spain, he is broke and his personal life is falling apart. It is then he receives a visit fromLuis Roldán, the powerful former Commissioner of Police who offers him one million dollars for help with safeguarding twelve million dollars embezzled by Roldán from the police budget. Paesa plans revenge in order to seize Roldán's money, fooling an entire country in a brilliant and intricate operation worthy of the best illusionist.

The film premiered at the 64thSan Sebastián International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Silver Shell for Best Actor for Eduard Fernández.^[2] It was also screened at the2016 London Film Festival.^[3] Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures,^[4] it was released theatrically in Spain on 23 September 2016.

Fausto Fernández ofFotogramas rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, singling out "the precision with which it is narrated and executed" as its hallmark.^[5]

Carlos Marañón ofCinemanía rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, assessing that "Rodriguez takes [the] Spanish political thriller [genre] to another level".^[6]

Jonathan Holland ofThe Hollywood Reporter deemed the film to be "quick-thinking, showy, ambitious and stylish in its manipulations; but also, for most of the duration, it's as soulless as a briefcase full of used banknotes".^[7]

Guy Lodge ofVariety billed the film as a "slick-as-Brylcreem political thriller".^[8]

Lee Marshall ofScreenDaily underscored that "this overlong, over-detailed story never seems entirely sure what it's trying to say".^[9]

• List of Spanish films of 2016

• El hombre de las mil caras atIMDb
• Smoke & Mirrors atRotten Tomatoes

• 2016 films
• 2016 thriller films
• Spanish political thriller films
• 2010s Spanish-language films
• Films directed by Alberto Rodríguez Librero
• Atresmedia Cine films
• Zeta Studios films
• Atípica Films films
• Sacromonte Films films
• Warner Bros. films
• 2010s Spanish films
• Films about corruption in Spain

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Template film date with 2 release dates
• Articles containing Spanish-language text
• Rotten Tomatoes ID different from Wikidata