I was having a bit of a rubbish day last Saturday so to cheer myself up I went to the pictures. I’ve been so excited about seeing this for so long; purely because of the stellar cast so my expectations were high as I settled down to watch ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ (‘TTSS’ from now on).
Just so you know, I’ve not read the book so everything from here on in is purely based on what I saw on Saturday, a point I will broach later…
Following a failed mission in Hungary leaving a Secret service operative supposedly dead, George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is pulled out of retirement to find a mole operating at the top level of British Intelligence. George himself is a suspect along side 4 top government agents codenames Tinker, Tailor, Solider and Poorman. It’s down to George and his select team of past and present MI5 employees to discover the identity of the mole.
There’s a lot to say about this film but I’m going to start with Gary Oldman because George Smiley is the films axis. I loved him in this. It’s just such a measured performance that tells the audience everything they need to know without any superfluous characterisation. In the first scene that we see him there’s a shot of the back of his head and he moves his face very slowly to the right, that single movement said it all, no words necessary. It’s quite fortunate that he’s so talented because he doesn’t say a great deal. Oldman makes him so meticulous and unflappable that when he does show some sadness it makes it so much more heartbreaking. I loved George, the consummate professional with an Achilles heel.
Actually, it’s quite difficult to talk about performances without taking forever because all of the cast hold their own in this film, there is no weak link.
Plaudits must go to Tom Hardy who plays Ricki Tarr, the muscle man for the secret service who goes to
‘Nerdy Rachel May’ favourite Benedict Cumberbatch plays Peter Guillam, Smiley’s right hand man. I know I gush about him non-stop but he is so good in ‘TTSS’.
As is Mark Strong. The go to ‘baddie’ has been cast in a more morally ambiguous role as Jim Prideaux. Again, understatement is the name of the game; Strong says very little (which is a shame because his voice is like melted chocolate) but does so much.
I just want to name check the cast so bear with me; John Hurt, Stephen Graham, Colin Firth, David Dencik, Toby ‘Dream Lord’ Jones, Kathy Burke, Roger Lloyd-Pack and all the rest of them. I cannot stress to you how quietly wonderful they all are.
Tomas Alfredson seems to be carving himself a career making films that are ostensibly about one thing but turn out to be about something else. Take his tour de force directorial debut ‘Let the Right One In’. On the surface it’s a Vampire film but actually it’s about childhood and being an outsider. It’s the same with ‘TTSS’. On the most basic level it is a spy film but really it’s a film about male distrust. All the male characters play their cards close to their chest and that’s the point. Alfredson has such an eye for detail it’s wonderful to see; everything has a place and a reason. It’s a testament to his ability as a director that he made what is ultimately a very slow, wordy film very tense and there’s a constant sense of ‘will they won’t they?’ that kept me glued to my seat.
I was worried before I entered the screening because I had heard some reviews that said it was a bit cold and at times quite hard to follow. I understand why some people might think that but I didn’t get it myself. The film’s pallet is very cold, lots of greys, blues and dark colours but it sparked my interest rather than alienated me from the film. Also I don’t think it was as hard to follow as people think. Perhaps I had to concentrate a little more than usual but whenever I asked myself the question ‘do I get this?’ the answer was yes. On the way home I thought about it and mapped all the characters and stuff out in my head just to make sure I understood it but that’s not a bad thing, after all, clever is not a dirty word.
So onto the ‘a’ word. Adaptation.
This is a silver screen adaptation of the John le Carré Novel of the same name. As I said before I haven’t read it or seen the 70’s TV series so I went into this with no expectations. I imagine I’m in the minority as many people will go and see this because they loved the book or the series. One such person is the Mail on Sunday journalist Peter Hitchens. Hitchens wrote on his blog an entry called ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Travesty’ in which he talks about why he thinks the film is “absolutely unforgivably awful”. Now, the witterings on these pages are not to be taken seriously and of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That said quality is not that subjective and I say that Mr. Hitchens is chatting shit.
You might get tied up in knots about the plot, or hate Gary Oldman’s performance but “absolutely unforgivably awful”? That’s a bit much. Is there nothing of value in this at all?!?! Well of course there is, like I said Mr. Hitchens is chatting shit. From an aesthetic perspective it is flawless, every frame is so crystal clear and pin point precise I find it hard to believe anyone could think that it’s “awful”. Also the score is wonderful; sweeping, atmospheric and tense (the scene where Peter is stealing documents from the archive, I had to bring my knees up to my chest and hug them I was that nervous!), Alberto Iglesias has done a brilliant job. So even if you hate the performances or whatever, it’s still an undeniable technical success.
In case you can’t be arsed to read the link above (I can’t blame you, usually I avoid the Mail at all costs) Mr. Hitchens essentially bemoans the differences from book to film. Some of the criticisms he lobbies against the film are things like how Gary Oldman doesn’t fit the physical description of Smiley, how in the book Smiley lives in Chelsea and in the film he lives in Hampstead, how the opening scene has moved from a forest in Czechoslovakia to a café in Budapest, how Jerry Westerby has been changed from an old man to a young man, how Bill Haydon looks too pristine and a other things of that ilk. I put it to you that Mr. Hitchens has missed the point somewhat. All the things he whinges about makes no difference to the story whatsoever. I can assure you that Smiley’s appearance doesn’t have a bearing on the plot and if we’d have had someone that looked more like how Smiley is supposed to look we’d have missed out on Oldman’s amazing performance, and I know what I’d rather have.
I understand the apprehension. Some books mean a lot to people and there’s always a concern that you’ll go see it and it’ll spoil the story if they’ve messed it up. I’m of the opinion that adaptations should be judged on their own merit and not whether they stay 100% truthful to their source material. It’s always more important to keep the spirit of the original text than it is to preserve the minutiae and from what I gather (I’m heading to the library tomorrow to take out a copy of the book and see for myself) they’ve done that.
Another example of someone catastrophically missing the point is apparently HRH Helen Mirren. I love Helen Mirren, I really do, she’s all kinds of fabulous, but her gripe with ‘TTSS’ is supposedly the lack of women. Speaking to The Sunday Times, Mirren said: "How many women were in that? I mean, come on. There weren't any women in the '70s?”
"The secret service always had a huge number of women working for them, and they played major roles in real life. But they were ignored for this film!" Really? I like to think Helen Mirren is a bit brighter than that so I’m going to assume she’s either been mis-quoted or that someone has just made that up. But regardless, someone, somewhere along the line said it and I’m going to tell them why they’re wrong.
Undeniably there is a lack of XX chromosomes but the point of this film is that it’s about secrets amongst men. Why would there be loads of women in a film about blokes that don’t trust each other?
Also, to answer the question, there are three significant female characters in this film and I think they fight their corner pretty well considering they’re vastly outnumbered. Connie Sachs is an MI5 agent with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Soviet intelligence, is one of the first to realise there is a mole in the Circus and she comes to this decision (unlike some of the male characters who only realise this is the case after Control feeds them the idea) on her own. Irina is bright enough to realise the information she has is a ticket to a better life and, despite it not coming to fruition, trades on that. Also Anne Smiley, we may not see her face but her presence is most definitely felt. Whenever George speaks about her or when we get a glimpse of a perfume bottle on the bedroom dressing table the audience know that she is George’s weakness, even if she is a bit of a bitch. There’s a choice bit of graffiti on a wall ‘The Future is Female’ and I think that sums up ‘TTSS’s attitude towards women, they are quietly running the show.
I loved ‘TTSS’. For me it succeeded as an adaptation as it was perfectly accessible to those who, like me, had no knowledge of the plot prior to seeing the film. It was engaging and thought provoking and full of knock out performances. It needs to be savoured so you can soak up every detail (because believe me, every detail matters) but when those grey cells get going you’ll realise it was totally worth it.
Now I think I need some…
Reasons to be cheerful :-)
1. The Muppets are having a ‘Fanathon’ on Facebook! Miss Piggy has filmed a little video about how people on Facebook waste their ‘Likes’ and how the Muppets are running competitions to see if they can get a bazillion ‘Likes’. I love it! Who ever is in charge of their marketing campaign is a genius!
Muppet Countdown: 140 days to go!
2. New Avengers pictures! Whoop whoop! These pictures are so exciting! Thor’s hair is longer (SWOON!), we get a proper look at Hawkeye and Bruce Banner and it’s always nice to see Tony Stark and his designer face fuzz :-)
3. MERLIN IS BACK TOMORROW NIGHT!!!! I know I know, I’ll be playing ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ next, but my nerdyness aside, Merlin is this shiz :-) Colin Morgan is great (and has a super sexy accent) and he did a lovely interview with Digital Spy. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to see Merlin in “fight mode” and apparently Bradley James gets topless in the first ep, teeheehee!
That’s it for today.
Goodbye till next time :-)
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