Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (film): Difference between revisions
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===Critical response=== |
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''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' has received generally favourable reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/05/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-review_n_949306.html |title=Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Reviews: What The Critics Are Saying |first=Gazelle |last= Emami |work=The Huffington Post|date=5 September 2011|accessdate=26 September 2011}}</ref><ref name=rt>{{cite web |url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tinker_tailor_soldier_spy/ |title=Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy|first= |last=Staff |work=Rotten Tomatoes |year=2011 |accessdate=26 September 2011}}</ref> {{asof|2012|2}}, the film held an 84% 'Fresh' approval rating from |
''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' has received generally favourable reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/05/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-review_n_949306.html |title=Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Reviews: What The Critics Are Saying |first=Gazelle |last= Emami |work=The Huffington Post|date=5 September 2011|accessdate=26 September 2011}}</ref><ref name=rt>{{cite web |url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tinker_tailor_soldier_spy/ |title=Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy|first= |last=Staff |work=Rotten Tomatoes |year=2011 |accessdate=26 September 2011}}</ref> {{asof|2012|2}}, the film held an 84% 'Fresh' approval rating from 190 reviews collected by [[review aggregator]] site [[Rotten Tomatoes]], with the consensus, "''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a dense puzzle of anxiety, paranoia, and espionage that director Tomas Alfredson pieces together with utmost skill."<ref name=rt/> By comparison, [[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, equating to "universal acclaim".<ref>[http://www.metacritic.com/movie/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy''] at [[Metacritic]].</ref> |
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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."<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-15-2356404.html |title=Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy|first=Jonathan |last=Romney|work=[[The Independent]] |date=18 September 2011 |publisher=[[Independent News & Media|INM]] |location=[[London, UK|London]] |issn=0951-9467 |oclc=185201487 |quote=|accessdate=26 September 2011}}</ref> David Gritten of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' declared the film "a triumph" and gave it a five star rating,<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/venice-film-festival/8741941/Venice-Film-Festival-Tinker-Tailor-Soldier-Spy-first-review.html |title=Venice Film Festival: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - first review - Telegraph |first=David |last=Gritten |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=5 September 2011 |publisher=[[Telegraph Media Group|TMG]] |location=[[London, UK|London]] |issn=0307-1235 |oclc=49632006 |accessdate=26 September 2011}}</ref> as did his colleague, Sukhdev Sandhu.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/8766414/Tinker-Tailor-Soldier-Spy-review.html |title=Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - review - Telegraph |first=Sukhdev |last=Sandhu |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=15 September 2011 |publisher=[[Telegraph Media Group|TMG]] |location=[[London, UK|London]] |issn= |oclc= |accessdate=22 October 2011}}</ref> |
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."<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-15-2356404.html |title=Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy|first=Jonathan |last=Romney|work=[[The Independent]] |date=18 September 2011 |publisher=[[Independent News & Media|INM]] |location=[[London, UK|London]] |issn=0951-9467 |oclc=185201487 |quote=|accessdate=26 September 2011}}</ref> David Gritten of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' declared the film "a triumph" and gave it a five star rating,<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/venice-film-festival/8741941/Venice-Film-Festival-Tinker-Tailor-Soldier-Spy-first-review.html |title=Venice Film Festival: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - first review - Telegraph |first=David |last=Gritten |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=5 September 2011 |publisher=[[Telegraph Media Group|TMG]] |location=[[London, UK|London]] |issn=0307-1235 |oclc=49632006 |accessdate=26 September 2011}}</ref> as did his colleague, Sukhdev Sandhu.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/8766414/Tinker-Tailor-Soldier-Spy-review.html |title=Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - review - Telegraph |first=Sukhdev |last=Sandhu |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=15 September 2011 |publisher=[[Telegraph Media Group|TMG]] |location=[[London, UK|London]] |issn= |oclc= |accessdate=22 October 2011}}</ref> |
Revision as of 08:03, 18 February 2012
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | |
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File:Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Poster.jpg UK release poster | |
Directed by | Tomas Alfredson |
Screenplay by | Bridget O'Connor Peter Straughan |
Produced by | Tim Bevan Eric Fellner Robyn Slovo |
Starring | Gary Oldman Colin Firth Tom Hardy John Hurt Toby Jones Mark Strong Benedict Cumberbatch David Dencik Ciarán Hinds Simon McBurney |
Cinematography | Hoyte van Hoytema |
Edited by | Dino Jonsäter |
Music by | Alberto Iglesias |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | StudioCanal UK (UK) StudioCanal (France) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 127 minutes |
Countries | Template:Film UK Template:Film France |
Language | English |
Budget | $21 million |
Box office | $64,767,872[1] |
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 2011 Anglo-French espionage film directed by Tomas Alfredson, from a screenplay written by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan based on the 1974 novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré. The film stars Gary Oldman as George Smiley, and co-stars Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ciarán Hinds. Set in London in the early 1970s, the story follows the hunt for a Soviet double agent at the top of the British secret service.
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. The film was a critical and commercial success and was the highest-grossing film at the British box office for three consecutive weeks. It received three Academy Award nominations including a Best Actor nomination for Oldman.
Plot
In 1973, Control, the head of British Intelligence ("the Circus"), sends agent Jim Prideaux to Hungary to meet a Hungarian general who wishes to sell information. The operation is blown and a fleeing Prideaux is shot in the back by Hungarian intelligence. Amid the international incident that follows, Control and his right-hand man George Smiley are forced into retirement. Control, already ill, dies soon afterwards.
Percy Alleline becomes the new Chief of the Circus, with Bill Haydon as his deputy and Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase as close allies. They have established their status by delivering apparently high-grade Soviet intelligence material, code named "Witchcraft", about which both Control and Smiley were suspicious. Alleline shares Witchcraft material with the Americans, obtaining valuable US intelligence in exchange.
Smiley is brought out of retirement by Oliver Lacon, the Civil Servant in charge of intelligence, to investigate an allegation by agent Ricki Tarr that there is a long-term mole in a senior role in British Intelligence. Control had made a similar suggestion earlier. Smiley chooses a small team and begins to interview people who left the Circus at the same time as he and Control. One is Connie Sachs, who had been sacked by Alleline for accusing Alexei Polyakov, a Soviet cultural attaché in London, of being a Soviet agent. Another is Jerry Westerby, who had been duty clerk on the night Prideaux was shot. Westerby reveals he had rung Smiley's house for instructions, but Smiley's wife had answered, Smiley being away. Shortly afterwards, Haydon had arrived at the Circus saying he saw the news on the tickertape at his club at 1am. Smiley realises that because the club would have been closed by 1am, Haydon must have heard the news from Smiley's wife, with whom Haydon was having an affair.
Smiley finds Tarr hiding at his home. Tarr tells him that he had been sent to Istanbul to investigate Boris, a Soviet agent. Boris' "wife" Irina, herself a Soviet operative, tells Tarr of the existence of the mole run by Soviet spymaster Karla. Tarr had informed London of this revelation and, after a critical delay, is ordered home at once. Boris and the British station chief in Istanbul are both killed by the Russians and Irina taken back to Russia. Tarr, discredited and accused by the British of defecting and murdering the British station chief, goes on the run. Smiley instructs Peter Guillam, an intelligence officer but one of his team, to steal the Circus logbook for the night Tarr called: the relevant pages had been removed, suggesting Tarr's story about the mole is true.
Smiley finds Jim Prideaux, who had been repatriated. Prideaux reveals the true purpose of his mission to Hungary: to learn the name of the mole. Control had codenamed the suspects "Tinker" (Alleline), "Tailor" (Haydon), "Soldier" (Bland), "Poorman" (Esterhase) and "Beggarman" (Smiley himself). Prideaux tells of his brutal interrogation (during which he apparently witnesses Irina's execution) but reveals that the Soviets already knew of Control's investigation into the mole, and were only interested in finding out how far that investigation had progressed.
Smiley learns that Alleline, Haydon, Bland and Esterhase have been meeting Polyakov at a safe house, giving him what they believe to be worthless British information (thinking that, in the eyes of his Russian superiors, he is a loyal KGB agent, and needs something to show them) in return for Witchcraft material. In reality, the mole has been leaking genuine British information to Polyakov while the Witchcraft material was mostly "glitter" rather than "gold", designed to persuade the Americans to share intelligence with the British, which the mole could then pass to the Soviets.
Smiley pressures Esterhase to give away the safe house address. Smiley's trap is to have Tarr reappear at the Paris office, to "announce that he knows of the mole". Upon learning this, the mole (still unknown) will then want to meet Polyakov to inform Karla to neutralise Tarr. Smiley waits at the safe house and captures the mole: Haydon. At Sarratt, the Circus interrogation centre, Haydon reveals that he seduced Smiley's wife on Karla's instruction, in order to distort any suspicions Smiley may have had of Haydon. Before his mission to Hungary, Prideaux had visited Haydon, his close friend, and tipped him off about Control's suspicions, thus inadvertently sealing his own fate. The Circus plans to exchange Haydon back to the Soviets, but Prideaux, having learned of Haydon's treachery, kills him. Smiley is restored to the Circus as its chief.
Cast
- Gary Oldman as George Smiley, "Beggarman"
- Colin Firth as Bill Haydon, "Tailor"
- Tom Hardy as Ricki Tarr
- Mark Strong as Jim Prideaux
- Ciarán Hinds as Roy Bland, "Soldier"
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Peter Guillam
- David Dencik as Toby Esterhase, "Poorman"
- Stephen Graham as Jerry Westerby
- Simon McBurney as Oliver Lacon
- Toby Jones as Percy Alleline, "Tinker"
- John Hurt as Control
- Svetlana Khodchenkova as Irina
- Kathy Burke as Connie Sachs
- Roger Lloyd-Pack as Mendel
- Christian McKay as Mackelvore
- Konstantin Khabensky as Polyakov
- Michael Sarne as Karla
- Tomasz Kowalski as Boris
- Zoltán Mucsi as Hungarian agent
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 due to personal reasons, but still served as an executive producer.[2] Following Morgan's departure, Working Title hired Peter Straughan and his wife Bridget O'Connor to redraft the script. Tomas Alfredson was confirmed to direct on 9 July 2009. The production is his first English-language film.[3][4] The film was backed financially by France's StudioCanal and had a budget corresponding to 21 million US dollars.[5] The film is dedicated to O'Connor, who died of cancer during production.
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.[6] David Thewlis was in talks for a role early on.[7] 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.[8] On 17 September 2010 it was confirmed that Mark Strong had joined the cast.[9] 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.[10] John le Carré appears in a cameo as a guest in a party scene.
Filming
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Blythe_House.jpg/220px-Blythe_House.jpg)
Principal photography took place between 7 October and 22 December 2010.[11] Studio scenes were shot at a former army barracks in Mill Hill, north London.[5] Blythe House in Kensington Olympia, West London, was used as the exterior for "The Circus."[12] The interior hall of Budapest's Párizsi Udvar served as the location for the café scene, in which Jim Prideaux is shot.[citation needed] 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 exterior shots of the Islay Hotel, a run-down hotel described in the film as being near Liverpool Street station, which Smiley uses as a base, were shot in Wilkin Street, London NW5.[citation needed]
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.[5] 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.[13]
Post-production
The film took six months to edit. The final song in the film, a rendition by Julio Iglesias 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.[14][15]video
Release
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/GaryOldmanByAndreaRaffin2011.jpg/220px-GaryOldmanByAndreaRaffin2011.jpg)
The film premiered in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2011.[16] StudioCanal UK distributed the film in the United Kingdom, where it was released on 16 September 2011.[17] US rights were acquired by Universal Pictures, which have a permanent first-look deal with Working Title, and 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 where it was given an 800 screen release.[18]
Critical response
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has received generally favourable reviews.[19][20] As of February 2012[update], the film held an 84% 'Fresh' approval rating from 190 reviews collected by review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a dense puzzle of anxiety, paranoia, and espionage that director Tomas Alfredson pieces together with utmost skill."[20] By comparison, 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, equating to "universal acclaim".[21]
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."[22] David Gritten of The Daily Telegraph declared the film "a triumph" and gave it a five star rating,[23] as did his colleague, Sukhdev Sandhu.[24]
Detractors of the film included Peter Hitchens of The Mail on Sunday, who wrote that the plot would be too baffling for viewers who had not read the book, and that the film's makers had "needlessly messed it up".[25] David Edwards of the Daily Mirror wrote, "The big question – and one Le Carré himself asked when the film was announced – is whether such a hefty novel can fit comfortably into a feature-length production. In answering this, the writers have pared things back, meaning it's far pacier than the seven-part TV show. Unfortunately, the plot is every bit as bewildering with an overload of spy-speak, a few too many characters to keep track of and a final act that ends with a whimper, rather than a bang."[26] Writing in The Atlantic, le Carré admirer James Paker favourably contrasted Smiley with the James Bond franchise, but finds this Tinker, Tailor adaptation "problematic" compared to the 1979 BBC mini-series. He writes "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."[27]
Box office
The film topped the British box-office chart for three consecutive weeks.[28] As of February 2012[update], Box Office Mojo reported that the film earned $64,767,872.[29]
Accolades
References
- ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=tinkertailorsoldierspy.htm
- ^ Radish, Christina (14 October 2010). "Screenwriter Peter Morgan Exclusive Interview". Collider.com. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
- ^ de Semlyen, Phil (9 July 2009). "Tomas Alfredson To Direct Tinker, Tailor | Movie News | Empire". Empire (film magazine). Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Staff (9 July 2009). "Tomas Alfredson to direct Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy". Screen Daily. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ a b c Tutt, Louise (8 December 2011). "How to tailor a spy classic". Screen International. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ Hoskin, Peter; Mason, Simon (23 October 2010). "Interview - Tomas Alfredson: outside the frame". The Spectator. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
- ^ White, James (8 July 2010). "Cast Confirmed For Tinker, Tailor". empireonline.com. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Goldberg, Matt (3 September 2010). "Tom Hardy Replaces Michael Fassbender in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Collider.com. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Anderton, Ethan (17 September 2019). "Mark Strong Lands a Role in 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'". FirstShowing.net. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Goldberg, Matt (22 October 2010). "Jones Replaces Harris in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Hurt, Graham, Lloyd-Pack, Dencik, and Burke Join Cast". Collider.com. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
- ^ "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Screenbase.com. Screen International. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
- ^ "Film London - September 2011 - Blythe House". Film London. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ Ramachandran, Naman (7 December 2010). "Alfredson shoots 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'". Cineuropa.org. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- ^ Gradvall, Jan (3 December 2011). "Tomas Alfredson: Jag avskyr intryck just nu". di.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 11 December 2011.
Julio Iglesisas version av La Mer blir allt som MI6-världen inte är.
- ^ French, Phillip (17 September 2012). "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ "Venezia 68: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - Tomas Alfredson". labiennale.org. Venice Biennale. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
- ^ "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Screenrush.co.uk. Tiger Global. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- ^ Brevet, Brad (29 August 2011). "Ugh, No 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' Until December". Retrieved 2 September 2011.
- ^ Emami, Gazelle (5 September 2011). "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Reviews: What The Critics Are Saying". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ a b Staff (2011). "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at Metacritic.
- ^ Romney, Jonathan (18 September 2011). "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". The Independent. London: INM. ISSN 0951-9467. OCLC 185201487. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Gritten, David (5 September 2011). "Venice Film Festival: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - first review - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London: TMG. ISSN 0307-1235. OCLC 49632006. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Sandhu, Sukhdev (15 September 2011). "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - review - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London: TMG. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- ^ Peter Hitchens (21 September 2011). "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Travesty". The Mail On Sunday. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
- ^ Edwards, David (16 September 2011). "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy movie review: Thriller is impressive - but not so entertaining - mirror.co.uk". Daily Mirror. London: Trinity Mirror. ISSN 9975-9950. OCLC 223228477. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Parker, James (December 2011). "The Anti–James Bond". The Atlantic. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: United Kingdom". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
- ^ "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
- ^ "The American Society of Cinematographers Nominates". The ASC. 11 January 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
- ^ Kilday, Gregg (3 January 2012). "Art Directors Nominate Movies as Different as 'Harry Potter' and 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
External links
- Official website
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at IMDb
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at Rotten Tomatoes
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at AllMovie
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at Metacritic
- 2011 films
- Use dmy dates from September 2011
- 2010s thriller films
- British spy films
- British thriller films
- French spy films
- French thriller films
- English-language films
- Films directed by Tomas Alfredson
- Films based on works by John le Carré
- Cold War spy films
- Cold War films
- Films set in 1973
- Films set in 1974
- Films shot in Budapest
- Films shot in London
- Films shot in Turkey
- StudioCanal films
- Working Title Films films