‘It’s the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?‘
As I’ve gotten older and more cinematically experienced, I’ve learnt to attach less and less significance to the concept of a ‘plot’. Sure, it’s an important element of the movie-going experience, but it’s far from the be-all and end-all. David Lynch and his films taught me this. With Lynch’s films, it’s best to let the whole thing wash over you and go by how it makes you feel rather than what it makes you think. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, whilst not in any way a surrealist film, is still at its most enjoyable if you throw the plot out of the window and instead enjoy the ’70s setting and the majestic acting and Colin Firth smiling wryly and all the rest of it…
I could honestly write thousands of words about the plot of this film and still not adequately describe it, so instead, I’ll keep it simple. Amid the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is brought out of retirement to root out a Soviet mole who is embedded within MI6 (incidentally, John le Carré, the author of the book upon which this film is based, coined the use of the word ‘mole’ in an espionage context). Aside from Oldman, the rest of the cast is quite simply a list of British acting legends: Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones, John Hurt and Kathy Burke. Sensational.
I’ll be honest, having now watched Tinker Tailor… twice, I would estimate that I still only understand about 50% of the plot here. But honestly? It doesn’t matter. There are scenes and moments here that are just so damn good that it doesn’t matter if you’re fully following the plot or not. It’s such a restrained and austere film that when anyone does display any actual emotion it’s like being handed a cool glass of beer after walking around in the desert for days on end. There is a moment towards the end in which Oldman’s protagonist confronts Firth’s character which is utterly spellbinding, although the former only raises his voice once while we only know the latter is rattled because his hair is slightly askew. It’s a very British confrontation. The acting, in fact, is genuinely incredible throughout. I could watch these characters attend their parties and argue in windowless rooms for hours, and in many ways, one of the reasons that Tomas Alfredson’s film feels so dense and layered is that it doesn’t quite have the running time to tie everything up in a satisfying way.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy isn’t for everyone. But I didn’t think it would be for me either, and yet in the end, I didn’t want it to end.
