Movie review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Directed by Thomas Alfredson
Screenplay: Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan
Cast:
George Smiley: Gary Oldman
Bill Haydon: Colin Firth
Jim Prideaux: Mark Strong
Control: John Hurt
Roy Bland: Ciarán Hinds
Peter Guillam: Benedict Cumberbatch
MPAA rating: R (for violence, some sexuality/nudity and language)

Release year: 2011

Synopsis:

For any secret intelligence service there is nothing worse than a mole or a ‘rotten apple’among their agents. This is a story based on a novel by John le Carre, telling how the British MI5 dealt with that particular problem – I reviewed the book not so long ago so more details you can find following this link. If you think “Tinker, Tailor” rings true you are perfectly right – it is partly based on the case of Kim Philby, one of a handful of British spies and Cambridge University alumni who were recruited by the Soviets in the 1930s. (Mr. le Carré, born David John Moore Cornwell, was a British spy whose cover was blown exactly by Philby so he did know what he was writing about.)

My impressions:

It is a spy movie but if you think immediately ‘action, fireworks, chases and James Bond’ you got hold of the wrong end of the stick and the film most likely will bore you. The plot is sluggish and it meanders to and fro, telling at least three different stories; the agents, no matter nice or ugly, young or elderly, are embittered by their lonely and not especially satisfying or glorious career. There are no reall friends in this business, just enemies you know and enemies you don’t know. Their Soviet intelligence counterparts seem to be elusive to say the least of it and as badly off as themselves.

When you are an agent you aren’t given some fast, rocket-propelled cars equipped with machine guns, no special watches with laser beams ; there are no beautiful girls falling for you at every party , just day-to-day drudgery, filling endless reports and infighting, stopped from time to time by a nasty accident or death of somebody you knew. Definitely closer to real life than any James Bond movie has ever dared to come but definitely neither cheerful nor exciting. There was one or two funny scenes, like Christmas at MI5 headquarters (a red Christmas tree, a Santa dressed up as Lenin, the guests singing merrily the Russian national anthem instead of a Christmas carol – who would guess these were British agents and their wives having Yule fun?) but the smile immediately gets wiped off by the prevalent atmosphere of sadness and glum (e.g. at that very Christmas party Smiley finds out by accident that his wife is cheating on him with his colleague). In fact it is my only carping – this movie was so depressing at times that it took me three evenings to get to the very end. The end was also a proper mixture of successes and failures (like 20/80 I would say)- some people get the sack, some get killed, some are promoted but you don’t feel like cheering, not really.

Uncharacteristically, after reading a book I actually wanted to watch the movie as well – mainly because of the actors. Gary Oldman as Smiley, John Hurt as Control, Collin Firth as Bill Haydon (Darcy!) Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock!) as Peter Guillam… honestly, with all these gentlemen playing side by side I expected a lot because really, could you ask for a better cast? Ok, maybe one or two strong female characters would be a nice addition but still I wasn’t disappointed – the performance of Oldman was great, one of the best I’ve seen since him playing the part of Sirius Black in The Prisoner of Azkaban (a Harry Potter movie). Smiley doesn’t say a word until 18 minutes in (“I’m retired”) but believe me, he doesn’t have to. His lined, sad, lean face speaks volumes about the life he’s been leading.

Despite that brutality, “Tinker, Tailor” is suffused with feelings — love for a country, a cause, a woman — a theme that surfaces especially at a boys’ school where Prideaux is hiding and which mirrors both the big boys’ club that is the Circus. At the school Prideaux meets a lonely student, Bill Roach (William Haddock), a moon-faced outsider whom Prideaux calls “a good watcher,” a description that, given the sadness that cloaks the story’s many watchers, feels chilling. ‘Chilling’ would be a good description of the whole movie when I come to think about it.

Final verdict:

A very good movie for a quiet evening, with splendid acting which I really enjoyed but, unfortunately, not something that would boost your mood. If you want to watch a lot of action and pretty girls in fast sports cars it is the wrong type of movie. Also if you hate cold war era spying stories you should steer clear of it.