This film has an unprecedentedly luxurious cast of actors, and is naturally impeccable in performance. Several famous actors can interpret the story wonderfully without too many lines. But unfortunately, the director has great problems with shooting techniques and film editing, which is my personal opinion. I want to reiterate that for viewers who do not know the story, it is quite difficult to remember a large number of names in the movie in an instant, often forgetting who is who when the name is mentioned. Moreover, the director kept switching between the present tense and the past tense in the editing, and there was no obvious sign. If you don't keep your eyes open, it is easy to cause confusion.
The other 2 hours is still too fast for this complicated story. The character of each character has not been shaped and developed. You must know that this is a story about an undercover, but at the end of the film, you are very It's hard to have any emotional resonance with the fate of the undercover encounter. I think the overall quality of the film would have benefited a lot if it could have been increased in length. Suppose, if Quentin Tarantino were the director of the film, he would have done a better job at telling the story.
Even so, this espionage story is a good one, and while it doesn't have enough action elements, it's still not to be missed. If you can figure out the plot of the whole film before watching it, get a good night's sleep, have a cup of coffee before the movie, and then concentrate on watching it, you will not be disappointed.
For your convenience, copy and paste the detailed plot below:
Through a love affair with the wife of a Moscow Centre intelligence officer, British agent Ricki Tarr discovers that there may be a high-ranking Soviet mole, codenamed "Gerald", within the Circus. After going under cover to avoid Soviet agents, Tarr alerts his immediate superior, Peter Guillam, who in turn notifies Oliver Lacon, the Civil Service officer responsible for the Intelligence Services. Lacon enlists George Smiley, the retired former Deputy Head of the Service, to investigate. Smiley and Guillam must investigate without the knowledge of the Circus, which is headed by Percy Alleline and his deputies Bill Haydon, Roy Bland, and Toby Esterhase, as any of these could be the mole.
Smiley suspects that "Gerald" was responsible for the failure of Operation Testify, a mission in Communist Czechoslovakia, the ostensible purpose of which was to meet with a defecting Czech Army general. Operation Testify ended with Circus agent Jim Prideaux shot in the back and tortured , and caused the disgrace and dismissal of Control, former head of Circus, who subsequently died. Prideaux, who survived and was repatriated and dismissed from the Circus, reveals to Smiley that Control suspected the mole's existence, and the true aim of Operation Testify was to discover the mole's identity. Prideaux reveals that the Moscow Centre personnel who interrogated him already knew this, and it becomes clear to Smiley that the operation was a trap set by Moscow Center to discredit Control and remove the threat to their mole 'Gerald'.
Percy Alleline, who was Control's rival, has risen to head the Circus as a result of seemingly top-grade Soviet intelligence from a source code-named "Merlin". The Merlin material is handled by a secret committee consisting of Alleline, Haydon, Bland , and Esterhase. Smiley's investigation leads him to believe that the "Merlin" source is false, and is being used by Moscow Centre to influence the leadership of the Circus. Cleverly, Moscow Centre has induced the Circus leadership to believe that "Merlin" maintains his cover in Moscow by feeding them low-grade British intelligence, "chicken feed", from a false Circus mole. As a result, the leaders of the Circus suppress any rumours of a mole, thus protecting the actual mole.
Smiley contrives a trap for the real mole using a communication from Tarr, and "Gerald" is revealed to be Bill Haydon, a respected colleague and former friend who once had an affair with Smiley's now estranged wife. Haydon is arrested, and acknowledges he was recruited by Karla, the Moscow Centre spymaster. Percy Alleline is removed, and Smiley is appointed temporary head of Circus to deal with the fallout. Haydon is to be exchanged to the Soviet Union for several of the agents he betrayed, but is mysteriously killed while in custody, shortly before he was due to leave England. Though his killer is not explicitly revealed, it is strongly implied to be Prideaux, his old partner, whom he betrayed in Operation Testify.
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