Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Cecil says: As the camera pans over the main characters in the opening scenes, it lands on great actor after great actor: John Hurt, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Toby Jones, Bendict Cumberbatch. You know this is going to be a great film, even if you have vague memories of that really good TV series back in the late 70s, which dramatised the same story.

And sure enough, this is a top quality film: can’t beat the plot (Le Carre); the cast (see above); and the filming (in ‘MI6 HQ’; in the dingy flat of ‘Control’; in the bars of Budapest).

It’s another reminder of how much the world has moved on since those dark days of the 1970s when, again, you had to pick sides and, if you were playing for one side and pretending to be on the other side, you had to weave a very complex web of intrigue behind you in order not to be found out.

Of course, when the TV series was made in 1979, the Cold War was still going strong, so it’s a tribute to the quality of the story and the novel that it stands the test of time to make such a good film so many years on.

It reminds me of a time (the 1980s) when friends of mine had their phone tapped; and another period (the late 60s) when my parents were approached by Special Branch wanting information on student troublemakers.

It probably still happens today, but somehow, from the Odeon Seniors morning in Darlington, it all felt a long time ago, and all the better for being historical...

***.5

Bea says: A strong (Le Carre) story, and a super-strong cast make this a winner from the outset – although let’s face it, this cast could be reading nursery rhymes and it would still be fantastic. The plot does require concentration, and it would be helpful to have read the book before perhaps, or at least be more familiar with the Smiley series than I am.

But concentration pays off eventually, and in this world of high level spying there are no friends, no enemies and no one can be trusted…

Also interesting were the subplots around relationships, Smiley’s and those of his colleagues; in fact this interested me more than the spy plots (and I think it was supposed to).

I heard Le Carre interviewed recently, commenting on Spooks, and he was rather dismissive of it, saying it made spying look like it was all women and fast cars, and in fact it was nothing like that at all – really?

***.5