Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2011

Director Tomas Alfredson

There’s no middle ground in British cinema. We’re good with the AWfully posh. We’re even better with the working classes. But there are other people in this country who are apparently too dull to care a toss about. And why would you, when you have such swaggering tales as Tyrannosaur, The King’s Speech, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? Swedish director Tomas Alfredson adds yet another triumph to the mountainous list of ‘Posh People Talking’ films, this time with a sprinkle of Cold War intrigue.

There is a double agent hidden inside the upper echelons of the British secret service, and it is up to the retired George Smiley to track them down.

Simple. The hunt for the mole had become standard espionage fodder in recent years thanks to the predictability of such television shows as Spooks and its high-octane American counterparts 24 and Alias. Even the recent outings of James Bond, Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt latch onto this well-trodden narrative stump. But it has never been executed with as much skill, intrigue and downright class as in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

It could be a sign of one’s - hopeful - maturity, but when did people simply talking and smoking become more enthralling than explosions? It might have something to do with the people who are doing all of this talking. Gary Oldman is at his minimalist best as George Smiley. He must share honours with Ryan Gosling in Drive for this year’s most gripping performance delivered almost entirely through facial expressions. His dialogue is so scarce that it becomes irrelevant. Smiley’s introduction is stunning. He dominates every single scene for about ten minutes without uttering a single word. He is just … there. But like the Cigarette Smoking Man from The X-Files, you can’t take your eyes off him. Mesmerizing. There are simply too many other strong performances to mention, but the prominent nods go to Mark Strong (not playing a villain for once, yay!) as sour teacher trying to escape his previous life in the service, and Toby Jones as the vitriolic new Chief of the Circus. But Alfredson handles the lengthy 127 minute running time with such delicacy that none of these British stalwarts fade into cameo.

The young Swede came to prominence with the dazzling, vampiric Let the Right One In back in 2008, and he displays identical methodical mastery for the atmospheric despite the complete shift in genre. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy does not revert to the Harry Palmer films of old, such as The ICPRESS File, despite the 1970s setting. Alfredson delivers a contemporary, retrospective sheen, maintaining Let the Right One In’s unsung cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, whose gorgeous camerawork creates an almost literal world of smoke and mirrors.

Fold your arms and furrow your brow. Alfredson has constructed a well-placed, methodical, intelligent yet ultimately thrilling piece of espionage cinema, held together by a plethora of spellbinding performances, most notably the superb and never, ever smiling Gary fucking Oldman.

**** ¼ / *****