Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (film)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 2011 Cold War spy thriller film directed by Tomas Alfredson. The screenplay was written by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan, based on John le Carré's 1974 novel of the same name. The film, starring Gary Oldman as George Smiley, along with Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Ciarán Hinds, and featuring David Dencik, is set in London in the early 1970s and follows the hunt for a Soviet double agent at the top of the British secret service.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
British theatrical release poster
Directed byTomas Alfredson
Produced by
Written by
Based onTinker Tailor Soldier Spy
by John le Carré
Starring
Music byAlberto Iglesias
CinematographyHoyte van Hoytema
Edited byDino Jonsäter
Production
company
Distributed byStudioCanal
Release date
  • 5 September 2011 (2011-09-05) (Venice Film Festival)
  • 16 September 2011 (2011-09-16) (United Kingdom)
Running time
127 minutes
Country
  • United Kingdom
  • France
  • Germany
LanguageEnglish
Budget$21 million
Box office$80.6 million[1]

The film was produced through the British company Working Title Films and financed by France's StudioCanal. It premiered in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival. A critical and commercial success, it was the highest-grossing film at the British box office for three consecutive weeks. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. The film also received three Oscar nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and for Oldman, Best Actor.

The novel had previously been adapted into the award-winning 1979 BBC miniseries of the same name with Alec Guinness playing the lead role of Smiley.

Plot

In 1973, "Control", head of British intelligence ("The Circus"), sends agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) to Budapest to meet a Hungarian Army general wishing to defect, and who has the name of a mole that the Russians have planted "right at the top" of British Intelligence. The meeting is a trap and Prideaux is shot as he tries to leave. Following the botched assignment, Control and his right-hand man, George Smiley (Gary Oldman) are forced to retire. Control dies shortly thereafter.

Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) becomes the new Chief, Bill Haydon (Colin Firth) his deputy, and Roy Bland (Ciarán Hinds) and Toby Esterhase (David Dencik) his lieutenants. Alleline and Bland meet Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney), the civil servant responsible for intelligence, to request budget approval for Operation "Witchcraft", which requires a safe house in London to protect the identity of a Soviet source leaking highly sensitive information to the British. Lacon explains that the CIA see the British service as "still a leaky ship."

Lacon is contacted by Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy), a former field agent whose case officer was Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch), who claims that for years there has been a mole, right at the top of the Circus. Concerned that this is similar to Control's suspicions, Lacon asks Smiley to investigate, and he enlists the help of Guillam, who is still with the Service, and retired Special Branch officer George Mendel (Roger Lloyd-Pack).

Smiley visits the late Control's flat, where he and Guillam discover materials related to investigating the mole. In flashback, Smiley recalls an angry meeting of Circus leadership in which Alleline disclosed what appeared to be high-value intelligence on the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, but despite Smiley's suspicions he refused to reveal the source. A furious Control explained that it came from the Witchcraft operation for which Alleline got approval by going over Control's head.

Smiley then asks Guillam to find personnel records of the changes Alleline made after Control and Smiley were forced out. Smiley interviews Connie Sachs (Kathy Burke), an analyst who was sacked by Alleline two weeks after he took over. Sachs had deduced that Alexei Polyakov (Konstantin Khabensky), a Soviet cultural attaché, was really a military officer, and suspected he was a member of a rumoured Soviet unit setting up moles in foreign agencies. Esterhase and Alleline dismissed her suspicions. She also shows Smiley a photograph of Jim Prideaux and Bill Haydon, calling them "the inseparables."

Smiley finds that Ricki Tarr has come out of hiding and broken into his house to talk to him. In flashback, Tarr describes an assignment in Istanbul, where he had an affair with a Soviet agent, Irina, who he thought could be turned into a source. Irina wanted to exchange the identity of the mole in return for asylum. Tarr cabled Irina's offer to the Circus, but the cable was not acted on. Soon after, Tarr found the local station chief murdered. Realising that the mole must have intercepted his message, Tarr tried to warn Irina, but she had been captured by the Soviets. Fearing for his own life, Tarr went into hiding.

Smiley sends Guillam to steal the Circus logbook for the night Tarr cabled. Guillam obtains the book, but while in the building is brought before Circus leadership. Alleline tells Guillam that Tarr is a traitor, that he is in London right now, and that someone has paid him 30,000 pounds. Guillam returns to Smiley, sees Tarr in the room and beats him bloody. After the fray is over, Smiley discovers that the logbook pages for the night of the cable have been cut out, supporting Tarr's story.

Smiley then interviews the duty officer from the night that Prideaux was shot. A flashback shows that the news sent Control into a catatonic state. The duty officer followed protocol and called Control's second-in-command, Smiley, for instructions. He was not home so the duty officer left a message with Smiley's wife, Ann. Bill Haydon arrived soon after and took over, cleaning out all materials related to Prideaux's assignment. Smiley guesses that Haydon was at Smiley's house—with Ann, with whom he was having an affair.

Earlier, Smiley discovered that the Service made a payment to "Mr Ellis", a cover name for the supposedly-deceased Prideaux, now working as a school French teacher and living in a caravan. Prideaux tells how his mission was to learn the identity of the mole and relay it to Control via a code name: "Tinker" for Alleline, "Tailor" for Haydon, "Soldier" for Bland, "Poorman" for Esterhase, and "Beggarman" for Smiley. He was beaten and tortured by the KGB, including having a woman (Irina) executed right in front of him, before eventually being exchanged with the Soviets.

Smiley deduces that Polyakov is the "Witchcraft" source. Alleline, Haydon, Bland, and Esterhase have been giving him “low-grade” British intelligence in return for high-grade Soviet intelligence, which the British then shared with the CIA in return for high-grade American intelligence. However, the Soviet intelligence is just enough to keep the CIA interested—and the mole (one of the four) has actually been passing high-grade British and US material to Polyakov, his handler.

Smiley drives to an airfield with the Hungarian-born Esterhase and tells him what he has learned about Witchcraft. Smiley threatens to have him deported back to Hungary, forcing him to give up the location of the safe house where the Circus leaders meet Polyakov.

Smiley instructs Tarr to go to the Paris station and cable London, claiming to have vital information. As planned, the mole intercepts the cable and stalls for time instead of taking any action, giving the mole time to go to the safe house and alert Polyakov. Smiley is lying in wait and arrests the mole—who is revealed to be Bill Haydon—at gunpoint.

Haydon explains that Prideaux, his close friend, told him about the operation in Hungary. He persuaded the Soviets to trade him back, rather than kill him. Haydon explains that he seduced Ann Smiley on Soviet orders as a ruse to cloud Smiley's judgment. Before Haydon can be traded to the Soviets, Prideaux kills him. Smiley finds Ann has returned home, and he becomes the new head of the Circus.

Cast

Production

Development

The project was initiated by Peter Morgan when he wrote a draft of the screenplay, which he offered to Working Title Films to produce. Morgan dropped out as the writer for personal reasons but still served as an executive producer.[2] Following Morgan's departure as writer, Working Title hired Peter Straughan and Bridget O'Connor to redraft the script. Park Chan-wook considered directing the film, but ultimately turned it down.[3] Tomas Alfredson was confirmed to direct on 9 July 2009. The production is his first English language film.[4][5] The film was backed financially by France's StudioCanal and had a budget corresponding to $21 million.[6] The film is dedicated to O'Connor, who died of cancer during production.

Blythe House, the exterior of "The Circus"

Casting

The director cast Gary Oldman in the role of George Smiley, and described the actor as having "a great face" and "the quiet intensity and intelligence that's needed". Many actors were connected to the other roles at various points, but only days before filming started, Oldman was still the only lead actor who officially had been contracted.[7] David Thewlis was in talks for a role early on.[8] Michael Fassbender was in talks at one point to star as Ricki Tarr, but the shooting schedule conflicted with his work on X-Men: First Class; Tom Hardy was cast instead.[9] On 17 September 2010, Mark Strong was confirmed to have joined the cast.[10] Jared Harris was cast but had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows; he was replaced by Toby Jones.[11] John le Carré appears in a cameo as a guest in a party scene.[12]

The Párizsi Udvar ("Paris Court") in Budapest, setting for the Hungarian café scene

Filming

Principal photography took place between 7 October and 22 December 2010.[13] Studio scenes were shot at a former army barracks in Mill Hill, North London.[6] Blythe House in Kensington Olympia, West London, was used as the exterior for "The Circus."[14] The interior hall of Budapest's Párizsi Udvar ("Paris Court") served as the location for the café scene, in which Jim Prideaux is shot.[15] Empress Coach Works in Haggerston was used as the location for the Merlin safe house. Other scenes were filmed on Hampstead Heath and in Hampstead Ponds, where Smiley is shown swimming, and in the physics department of Imperial College London.

The events which take place in Czechoslovakia in the novel were moved to Hungary, because of the country's 20% rebate for film productions. The teams filmed in Budapest for five days. Right before Christmas, the team also filmed in Istanbul for nine days.[6] The production reunited Alfredson with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema and editor Dino Jonsäter, with whom he had made his previous film Let the Right One In.[16]

Post-production and music

The film took six months to edit. The final song in the film, Julio Iglesias' rendition of the French song "La Mer", set against a visual montage of various characters and subplots being resolved as Smiley strides into Circus headquarters to assume command, was chosen because it was something the team thought George Smiley would listen to when he was alone; Alfredson described the song as "everything that the world of MI6 isn't". A scene where Smiley listens to the song was filmed, but eventually cut to avoid giving it too much significance.[17][18]

Heard at a Circus office party, sung along to by the guests, is "The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World", composed by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, and performed by Sammy Davis, Jr., from the British spy spoof Licensed to Kill (1965). At the same office Christmas function, the Circus staff sing the official "State Anthem of the USSR", conducted by a figure dressed as Father Christmas but wearing a Lenin mask.[19]

Release
Gary Oldman at the Venice International Film Festival for the premiere

The film premiered in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2011.[20] StudioCanal UK distributed the film in the United Kingdom, where it was released on 16 September 2011.[21] The US rights were acquired by Universal Pictures, which owns Working Title, and they passed the rights to their subsidiary Focus Features. Focus planned to give the film a wide release in the United States on 9 December 2011 but pushed it to January 2012, when it was given an 800 screen release.[22]

Critical response

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy received critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 83% based on 227 reviews, with an average rating of 7.78/10. The site's critics' consensus states: "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a dense puzzle of anxiety, paranoia, and espionage that director Tomas Alfredson pieces together with utmost skill."[23] Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating in the 0–100 range based on reviews from top mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 85 based on 42 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[24]

Jonathan Romney of The Independent wrote, "The script is a brilliant feat of condensation and restructuring: writers Peter Straughan and the late Bridget O'Connor realise the novel is overtly about information and its flow, and reshape its daunting complexity to highlight that".[25] David Gritten of The Daily Telegraph declared the film "a triumph" and gave it a five star rating,[26] as did his colleague, Sukhdev Sandhu.[27] Stateside, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "As Alfredson directs the expert script by Peter Straughan and Bridget O'Connor, the film emerges as a tale of loneliness and desperation among men who can never disclose their secret hearts, even to themselves. It's easily one of the year's best films."[28] M. Enois Duarte of High-Def Digest also praised the film as a "brilliant display of drama, mystery and suspense, one which regards its audience with intelligence".[29]

The Telegraph's Guy Stagg, meanwhile, thought that the movie needed a car chase in the middle.[30] Writing in The Atlantic, le Carré admirer James Parker favourably contrasted Smiley with the James Bond franchise but found this Tinker Tailor adaptation "problematic" compared to the 1979 BBC mini-series. He wrote: "To strip down or minimalize le Carré, however, is to sacrifice the almost Tolkienesque grain and depth of his created world: the decades-long backstory, the lingo, the arcana, the liturgical repetitions of names and functions".[31]

Keith Uhlich of Time Out New York named Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy the fourth-best film of 2011, calling it "a visually stunning adaptation with a stellar cast."[32] In 2020, Uhlich named it the ninth-best film of the 2010s.[33]

Box office

The film topped the British box office chart for three consecutive weeks[34] and earned $80,630,608 worldwide.[35]

Awards and honours

Possible sequel

While doing press for Working Title's Les Misérables film adaptation, producer Eric Fellner stated that fellow producer Tim Bevan was working with writer Straughan and director Alfredson on developing a sequel to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Fellner did not specify whether or not the sequel would be based on The Honourable Schoolboy or Smiley's People, the two remaining Smiley novels in Le Carré's Karla trilogy.[45] While doing press for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 2014, Oldman stated that talk of a sequel, an adaptation of Smiley's People, had since disappeared; while also stressing that he would still like to see the film produced.[46] However, in July 2016 Oldman confirmed that the sequel was in its early stages, stating, "There is a script, but I don't know when we will shoot."[47]

gollark: There had better be a nice reveal website or something.
gollark: IN OCTAL! HA! I WROTE 13!
gollark: Okay, that was a lie. I actually did do 15.
gollark: Ah yes. I did not write not 15.
gollark: PSYKE OR WHATEVER, I ACTUALLY WROTE #-7

References
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  2. Radish, Christina (14 October 2010). "Screenwriter Peter Morgan Exclusive Interview". Collider. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  3. Lee, Rachel (29 March 2012). "Park Chan-wook stalks a thriller with 'Stoker'". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  4. de Semlyen, Phil (9 July 2009). "Tomas Alfredson to Direct Tinker, Tailor". Empire. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  5. "Tomas Alfredson to direct Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Screen Daily. 9 July 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  6. Tutt, Louise (8 December 2011). "How to tailor a spy classic". Screen International. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  7. Hoskin, Peter; Mason, Simon (23 October 2010). "Interview – Tomas Alfredson: outside the frame". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  8. White, James (8 July 2010). "Cast Confirmed For Tinker, Tailor". Empire. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  9. Goldberg, Matt (3 September 2010). "Tom Hardy Replaces Michael Fassbender in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Collider. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
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