> REVIEW
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
The secret is out…
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By Helen Adkins | September 2011
Studio Canal/Working Title/Optimum Releasing ©
DIRECTOR: Tomas Alfredson
WRITER(S): Bridget O’Connor / Peter Straughan
For those old enough to remember, the 1979 TV series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was a landmark production, unforgettable for the casting of Alec Guinness as the enigmatic George Smiley and cementing the BBC’s reputation for high-quality drama.
Such was Guinness’s success in the role that the book’s author, John Le Carré later revealed that when he wrote the next two novels featuring Smiley, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People, he only ever had Guinness in mind.
Understandably, for die-hard Le Carré fans there has been much apprehension regarding this latest casting of Gary Oldman as the taciturn spy. Can he come close to filling Smiley’s shoes? Can Swedish director Tomas Alfredson hope to emulate 70s cold war London?
Changes to the storyline have been made. Omitted scenes, altered locations and tweaked characters are to be expected, although why substitute Czechoslovakia for Hungary and why turn middle-aged heterosexual Peter Guillam into a young gay man?
That said, its time to move on. Alfredson has exceeded expectations and created a piece of cinematic gold. TTSS is an atmospheric, compelling and thrilling work with thematic depth and masterful performances from his cast. Smiley may not be as short and fat but Gary Oldman wears his shoes and mackintosh as though he was born in them.
The book is loosely based around real-life events when the UK’s secret elite, notably Kim Philby and up to four (some say five) top officials betrayed their country to the KGB. Here, George Smiley, former spy in the Secret Intelligence Services, is pulled out of retirement to track down a mole within the exclusive upper echelons of ‘The Circus’ (MI6). Five high rankers are under suspicion and so the film proceeds, jumping back and forth from past to present, as Smiley inexorably assembles a rubix cube-like puzzle for him, and us, to solve.
Be warned, it’s a complex tale. This is intelligent, grown-up cinema with weaving plot lines that require concentration. There are no glamorous locations, fast cars or love interest. These Cold War spies are less Bond and more clapped out, middle-aged men beaten down by a lifetime of cynicism and betrayal.
Alfredson’s spies walk concrete grey corridors dressed in badly fitting suits and drink cold tea in dank rooms with rotten windowsills. As he did with Let the Right One In, the director presents the 70s as a time best forgotten, grim and acrid under a haze of smog. In a perpetual gloom, the faces of these characters are lit at their harshest, etched and sapped of life; a metaphor for the sense of loss and disillusionment following the final collapse of the British Empire.
If all this sounds grim and ponderous, it is – at first. Yet, this slow burn thriller slowly but surely builds, expands and accelerates. As the story twists and turns, the plot lines converge, inexorably, subtly and brilliantly.
The thrill of this film is also in the cast, a line-up of some of the UK’s best actors. Stunning performances come from Benedict Cumberbatch as Smiley’s reluctant side-kick Peter Guillam; Mark Strong as the betrayed spy Jim Prideaux; and Colin Firth, Toby Johns, Ciaran Hinds and David Dencik as ‘The Circus’. Then, there’s Tom Hardy as the lowly foot soldier Ricki Tarr, the only spy who still believes in life and love.
Yet Oldman is the true star and a true Smiley; imperturbable, intelligent and powerful, even though he only raises his voice once in the entire 127 minutes. If you can leave Guinness behind, you’re in for a treat. Here’s to the sequels.
Script…………………………………………………………………………………………….
As Le Carré quipped, turning his book into a script is like turning a cow into an
Oxo cube and Peter Straughan and Bridget O’Connor have done an admirable job, conveying a huge amount of plot without resorting to clanging exposition. Subtle
and restrained. 4
Direction………………………………………………………………………………………..
Alfredson creates the mood and historical backdrop to 70s Cold War London
with skill, originality and confidence, while pacing this slow burn thriller perfectly. 4
Verdict…………………………………………………………………………………………..
This is an intelligent, atmospheric thriller, without a car chase in sight. See it for Oldman’s performance alone, which must be surely, a shoe-in for Oscar
nominations at the very least. 5
