both dreadful and brilliant

Rating: 3/10 (11 August 2016)

For those seeking a thriller this movie is dreadful: hard to understand, hard to follow, boring and unexciting. For those interested in the nature of the British upper classes and their proclivity for treason, whether on the Right or the Left, this is a brilliant movie. Le Carre knows the upper classes well and how susceptible some of them are to treason, particularly in favor of the USSR. But most viewers of spy stories want action not lugubrious interior monologues and for them this movie is a decided failure. It takes several viewings plus reading the novel to understand what the heck is going on, and why. After which, you may no longer care at all.