A superb screen adaptation of a classic Cold War spy novel

Rating: 10/10 (17 April 2012)

This is one of those occasions when, having read some professional reviews of the film before seeing it (something I usually try to avoid doing), I am happy to report that my high expectations have been more than matched. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is an excellent, almost faultless film.
The basic plot is as follows. George Smiley (Gary Oldman) reluctantly agrees to suspend his enforced retirement from the British Secret Intelligence Service to investigate the impact of an earlier botched exercise in Soviet-controlled Budapest. That incident had brought about his departure from the "Circus", the top echelon of the Service to which he had belonged, and that of its Control (John Hurt). The failed exercise had resulted in the capture and torture of one of the Circus's agents, who had been sent to Budapest to obtain information about the identity of a Russian mole who was believed to have infiltrated the highest sphere of the British Secret Service. The powers that be consider Smiley to be best placed to undertake such an investigation because Control has since died. Smiley's investigation necessitates his spying on his former colleagues at the Circus, one of whom is believed to be the mole in question.
Perhaps not surprisingly, given that this is a film about Cold War espionage, there is much more to what is a very complex plot than that brief description suggests. Indeed, just about the only reservation about the film that I have is that its plot is so labyrinthine in nature that it requires one's total attention at all times. I found I had to rewind the DVD on two occasions to check that I had understood a plot development correctly and to ensure that I hadn't missed something crucial. (That luxury is not, of course, an option if one is watching the film in a cinema!) "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is brilliantly acted by all involved (the cast is made up of a stellar array of British actors) and expertly directed. It is beautifully shot and lit and atmospherically evokes what I imagine to be the shady, secretive and seedy world of spying. I have not read the novel on which the film is based - although I am now keen to do so - but I assume that it cannot have been an easy task to capture its rationale and its complexities as successfully and as reasonably accessibly as this film seems to do. So, great credit must also go the writers of the screenplay. The original music, by Alberto Iglesias (any relation to Julio, I wonder?), is also top-notch.
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is intelligent, thought-provoking and rivetingly entertaining. Indeed, it is one of the best films I have seen for a very long time. A must-see. 10/10.