illed as the anti-Bond, Tomas Alfredson’s bold and claustrophobic thriller is as much about the atmosphere of

Tomas Alfredson, director of ‘Let The Right One In’, delves into the world of Cold War espionage in his adaptation of John le Carré’s eminent spy novel ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’

REAL THE

SPY GAME

Bcorporations and how the people within, particularly men, behavewith one another. Knowledge is the form of currency here andensuring that you are the onlyholder of this information is the motive behind so much deception. If you want to make it to the top floor, honesty won’t get you there. The backdrop of the Cold War and the British Intelligence Service, MI6,makes Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,at first glance, nominally a spy film. But if you look closer, the film is more about patterns ofbehaviour, relationships, glances,flickers of suggestion and supressed emotions. Spys and spying are merely the vehiclesthat drive all of these themes. Alfredson’s adaptation of the much loved novel by John le Carré,also inherits the reputation of theheralded BBC television series starring Sir Alec Guinness as spy-master George Smiley. This time around it’s Gary Oldman playingthe retired agent, forced out whena mission in Hungary costs aman his life, but called back whensuspicions arise of a Russian “mole” at the top of “the Circus”. Much of le Carré’s brilliance is his playful use of language todescribe either the surroundings orjob descriptions of his characters. Those asked to do the Circus’dirty work are gruesomly labelled “scalphunters”, and the juxtaposition of “the Circus” with with that of its Russian opposite, “Central”, allows for a typically quaint and eccentric ‘Britishness’ to permeate from the story. After all, much of Tinker is to do with an age of men from a bygone era. They are seen as ‘past their time’, and, like Smiley,eventually left on the scrapheap.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is released on DVD/Blu-ray on 30 January

‘There is as much excite-ment in all the verbal sparring sessions than any sequence of extravagant stunt-work or rapid gun-fire’

Along with the head of the Circus, Control - played by a rasping JohnHurt, Smiley is ‘retired’ . But not afterlong he is asked to investigatethose who are now at the head of British Intelligence. The return ofa rogue agent, Ricky Tarr, played an enigmatic Tom Hardy, whoclaims to hold vital informationregarding the “safeguarding of theCircus”, sparks a molehunt into four members of the high table. There is no great action set piece or car chase while Smiley chaseshis suspect. Rather a methodicaland careful unravelling of the mole’s web of deceit. Scriptwriters Peter Straughan andBridget O’Connor have deltexpertly with le Carré’s convolutedplot and strung the whole piecetogether, in terms of elapsesin time, with a recurring scene of an office Christmas party where all involved exchange ever morecurious looks at each other. As the film progresses these exchanges take on new meanings and moretragic connotations, and are the heart of what makes le Carré’snovel so revered. Timelines are subtly signalled by changes in costume, particularlySmiley’s glasses as they switch from a trim, sleek pair, to a rather binocular type pair that are prescribed to him upon his returnto the Circus. But behind them is a razorsharp mind and one that willrival his great opponent Karla, the

man behind the planting of the mole. Much of the film’s ‘action’ takes inside smoke filled rooms and bleak office spaces. Though there is as much excitement in all the verbal sparring sessions, at which John Hurt is supreme, than any sequence of extravagant stunt-work or rapid gunfire. In fact, Oldman’s portrayal of Smiley enbodies the whole tone of thefilm. Reserved, meditative andmeticulous. Some might say cold and uninvolving because of theconvoluted plot. But the highest praise that the film can be given is that it strips down the novel’s labyrinthine method and cranks the broiling eroticism and sexual tensions that are only alluded to by le Carré. Oldman’s Smiley also posesses a steely ruthlessness, and isn’t hesitant to send even his most loyal aide, Peter Guillam Bendict Cumberbatch), into life threatening situations. Here is a Smiley we haven’t seen before. Bursting with age old musings ofloyalty and betrayal, Alfredson hasmasterfully exhumed some of the atmospheres of the time. But Tinker is also a film about the breakdownof relationships and its consequences. Who knew it wouldtake a Swede to get under the skinof 70s Britain and find out what made people tick. A superb film.

THE INQUISITORGeorge Smiley (Oldman) talks all things spy with Esterhase (David Dencik, left).

SMOOTH MOVEROscar winner Colin Firth mansthe phones as Bill Haydon(right).

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Jack Jones