Big Screen Peter: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

John le Carré is a master of fiction. His books, full as they are with espionage and international intrigue, are equally probing in matters of love and the psyche. The characters are well-rounded studies of psychology and motive, as wont to fall into a spell of introspective soul-searching as they were to break into a Russian Embassy to photocopy international secrets.

In short, they are beautiful studies of human nature that happen to take place in an exciting realm. And a welcome separation from the all frill and no fill world of most best-selling thrillers.

But precisely because books, especially by the likes of le Carré, are so well-thought out, so devilishly plotted and accurately paced, cinematic recreations are a precarious affair. It's a quicksilver process, one that disappoints or disillusions more often than not.

“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” directed by Tomas Alfredson and starring Gary Oldman, is a marked achievement, however.

The elements of the story are altered, but the film retains the essence of the novel. Like all true spy novels and mystery thrillers, the basis of Tinker, Tailor is information. George Smiley, an intelligence officer forced into an early retirement, is secretly brought back into the fold of the British government to root out a mole within the highest levels of MI:6. His accretion of information drives the story forward and ratchets up the anticipation.

Which is somewhat incredible. For nothing really happens in Tinker, Tailor. And anything that does happens has already happened. The suspense is in retrograde, floating explanations snatched from the air by characters to explain one thing or another that Smiley learns along the way.

So, how, exactly is Tinker, Tailor such gripping cinema?

There's the music, of course. It sets the tone in an almost sinister way with the false joviality of the Soviet anthem at the Circus (MI:6-Tinker, Tailor is full of jargon, by the way) or a pop confection trilling along through moments of import. It serves as set shading just as much as the actual filming locations, embossing the action in almost subliminal ways.

But the action, or rather the perpetrators of the action, vault Tinker, Tailor into something worthy of discussion. Oldman does the Smiley character great justice, forcing all thoughts of Sir Alec away. John Hurt is a raspy force of genius as the voluble though terminally ill Control. Collin Firth plays Bill Haydon with a masterful arrogance. These supporting characters, along with the other possible moles, are all strongly written and performed.

Much of Tinker, Tailor is based on the unseen though. And running through the story of Smiley's hunt are two silent and unseen characters that still dominate the story. There's Karla, the mad genius behind the KGB. Always alluded to, but never seen. A ghostly antagonist that gives the film an eery tinge. And then there's Ann, George's estranged wife. She serves as a libidinous hole, a festering itch that continues to remind the sagacious spy master that everyone, himself included, has a blind spot in their worldview. Anyone can be tripped up. Even such a marvelously condensed movie as this.

Alfredson jammed a sprawling story of high-stakes espionage into a two-hour time frame. When the story tumbles toward its conclusion, the enormity of the moment seems lost. As Julio Iglesias belts, en francais mind you, about the vagaries of the sea, it's shifting shades and shapes, the director points toward the future in a montage. With the song picking up steam, one must wonder if the audience isn't being prodded toward something.

It's an oddly disjointed ending for such a masterfully paced movie. But, like the movie itself, it is still curiously affecting. The song, “La Mer,” is a buoyant bow. It's the last piece of a beautifully wrapped package displaying a decidedly ugly, though necessary, profession. We change and we change, yet we're always the same thing: culpable and imperfect beings with aspirations for something better.

• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is playing at the the Malco Cinema 16 in Fort Smith. Link here for time and ticket info.

Feedback
Feel free to contact Peter Lewis at [email protected]

You can also track Peter at his website.