After the novel was published, it became a bestseller, and then it was put on the screen by BBC TV in 1979, and it was also a great success. But I basically didn't read the novel. The BBC's TV series is said to be very faithful to the original. Unfortunately, I didn't read it either, so I could only use my imagination on this movie.
When you think of spies, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Bond, that kind of American hero? Handsome, witty, brave, always turning the tide in the nick of time, and with advanced equipment, bright clothes, beautiful cars surrounded by beautiful women...
We can't see these here, there are only real people here, they are doing special jobs , but still ordinary people with flesh and blood that are not glamorous or even ugly. The protagonist Smiley is even a retired old man whose middle-aged wife with a fat body often cheats and eventually leaves him; he is also like many ordinary people who are afraid of rapid aging after retirement, and often go swimming; relying on the memory of the color of the car in the parking lot to maintain his own thinking active to avoid the advent of Alzheimer's; not a single friend.
Many people can only live for work or something, and without these, it seems that they have lost their motivation to live, and their decline begins to accelerate. Smiley is such a person, even if he was once in the upper core of the Circus, but once he retires, how is he different from ordinary people? Even the qualifications of ordinary people are not up to the standard. The wife is gone, there are no children, no friends, and they are really dead at home. I am afraid that they will not be discovered until the body stinks.
If that hadn't happened, he would have been alone for the rest of his life. Only every time he goes out and stuffs a note in the door, he remembers that he used to play in the rounder, reminding him that maybe someone remembers him and will come to the door, but it is only someone who wants to kill him. But do such people really exist? When he repeated the slips of paper day after day, he seemed to understand that this was just a professional habit, and he didn't even have the value of being killed.
And then that happened, a guy named Ricky called Lacan, the current vice president of the Circus, and said he knew there were Soviet gophers in the upper echelons of the Circus.
Lacan recalled the gloomy days: Pledo died on the streets of Budapest, and the staff of the rounder in Hungary were taken away, which led to the retirement of the boss. Smiley, who was the boss, naturally retired early. Lacan suddenly felt that Smiley should be a pawn buried by the boss at that time, waiting for him to activate it now, so Lacan found Smiley and called Ricky, and decided to let Smiley come back. Pick up the gophers on the upper floors of the Circus.
This decision saved Smiley and pulled him back from accelerated aging in retirement.
Just such a Smiley, with the gloom of south London and the musty smell of home, came back. He enlisted the help of Guillam, head of the scalping group, from Lacan, who stole important documents that Ricky had sent to the Circus in November.
The stealing of the documents is very interesting. Guillam went in and lied to look up the documents. The bags he brought with him had to be covered with yellow stickers and stored at the door. The reference room called (the car mechanic was playing jazz, with a slight rhythm), the call was connected, the female administrator of the reference room began to monitor and record routinely, and the jazz sound of the car repair room first came from the receiver (the voice was very loud). Big, strong sense of rhythm), followed by Smiley's voice disguised as a car mechanic, saying to find the team leader, Guillam, who just got the information, took the file to answer the phone, and Smiley was listening to the female administrator Played double reed. As for the female janitor, she was just recording a routine record, but hummed to the jazz music on the receiver. At this time, the rhythm of the jazz music made the car mechanic tap the wrench. The female janitor tapped her toes to the rhythm. The garage was passed to the entire data room, and at the same time, Killam also successfully put the documents he brought out into the bag.
The footage and soundtrack throughout this section are witty and humorous, and the rhythm is gradually strengthened. The contrast is also very strong, the dilapidated and warm garage, the strict and cold Circus Archive, the laid-back car mechanic and the female janitor, the nervous Guillam and Smiley, these contrasts are all linked by a cheerful jazz music , the halo of the circular field was instantly dissipated. No matter how cold and strict an organization is, it is made up of people. As long as there are people, mistakes are bound to be made, and there will be stories that will never end.
The record page was torn off on November 20, the day Ricky sent the Circus the important information that there were gophers inside the Circus—which meant that there must be gophers inside the Circus.
It seems that the boss's intuition is correct, but he has been dead for a long time...
What kind of person is the boss? Born in the United Kingdom, he truly loves the United Kingdom, and is absolutely loyal to the Empire on which the sun never sets. Like most British people, he does not like the British who came back from the colony. He feels that they are all greedy and cunning, and there is no British. Loyalty and chivalry to one's homeland. Although the status of the United Kingdom has deteriorated after World War II, the hegemon has long been replaced by the Cold War pattern of the United States and the Soviet Union, and all the colonies are clamoring for independence... But these do not affect their sense of the greatness of their motherland, and they feel that the British are still in the afterglow of the empire on which the sun never sets. should live proudly. This sense of superiority in their bones makes them always think that the world, except for Britain, is full of greed and cunning in the colonies, and there are places of sin everywhere. But such an old English gentleman, the former boss of the rounder, died miserably in the hospital more than a year ago, and he regretted it for the rest of his life.
Smiley is the boss's cronie, and Pledo, who died in Hungary, is the same person. They feel that the great ship of England can still sail on the sea. They are as loyal as medieval knights to this once great and now lonely country.
The current Circus is a small group led by Allerion (the Tinker), Brand (the soldier), Easthas (the poor man) and others. This small group was formed in the era of the former boss. At that time, during the high-level meeting of the rounder, they advocated cooperation with Americans to share intelligence, opposed the internal rectification investigation of the rounder, and sang against the boss. The boss scolded "you vicious Yankees", but they He asked the boss, "Do you want to open up a new situation (pro-American) or go back to the past (hold the remnants of the British Empire)." The boss became angry after hearing this, "Yankee, go back to where you came from!" The
boss' chivalry was incompatible with Alleline. Alleline is a man who came back from the American colonies. He is utilitarian, practical, and pro-American. He feels that the "broken ship" of the United Kingdom is about to be dragged. He was not only portrayed as a dwarf-looking dwarf in the movie, but also scolded by the Oxford-born rounder Bill Haydn: "You stinky dwarf, I don't want to join your clown group".
It's a pity that the current "Clown Squad" is in full swing, while the former "Knight Squad" is dying and retreating...
How did Ricky get the information that there are gophers in the rounder?
Ricky is the minion of the scalper group and the bottom layer of the Circus. These cornerstone minions scattered all over Eastern Europe are constantly searching for information for the Circus. Most of them are things of meager value and are not taken seriously. Talk lightly.
As for Pledo, who went to Budapest back then, he and Bill Haydn were Oxford classmates. They were from orthodox backgrounds, excellent in character and study, and had a prominent family. In addition to their outstanding abilities, they were very early celebrities and backbones of the rounder, and assigned tasks. All are taught in person by the boss.
What Ricky saw was an alcoholic, and what Pledo saw was a general—espionage personnel were of course divided into different levels, and generally the higher-level intelligence obtained was more advanced. This time, however, it was the low-level Ricky who got the high-level intelligence, relying on women.
Don't think of the information about the beauty that Bond drove in the car to hold, but in fact Ricky just took advantage of it. The alcoholic he stalked was useless. He wanted to give up, but found out that his wife Irina was also from the "Central" of the Soviet Union.
That night, he found that the alcoholic was having sex with other women at home. When Irina came home, he found out that he was so embarrassed that he kept banging her head against the window like crazy. This domestic violence inspired him or moved his compassion. Heart, decided to use this woman.
By the way, let's talk about the handling of this scene. In the window of an apartment building, the lights are on and no curtains are on. From the wife coming home to the bedroom to watch the husband having sex with other women, to rushing into the back room in grief and anger, to being pulled out by the angry husband. Beaten, the last shot is when the woman has a bloody face, she is looking out the window, towards the camera. This kind of window display, showing all beings, mobilizes the audience's voyeuristic desire to peep a woman's secret through Ricky's high-powered telescope. In the final shot, the woman was watching her audience through the camera without blinking. She was not crying on the ground, nor beat and scolded her husband. Ki and the countless viewers who consume her pain. This has nothing to do with making Ricky or the audience feel sympathetic, but this look is enough to conquer Ricky. Sometimes people are touched by something with such a light touch, and their life is changed.
Ricky and Irina staged a holiday romance and got information, but the romance did not end in "holiday". Although Ricky got important information that "elite" Pledo did not get, as a spy, Ricky still failed, destined not to be an elite, he was too emotional.
It is worth mentioning that in the scene of Ricky and Irina having dinner in the holiday romance, Ricky held a mirror to show Irina's face like a child. She frowned at first, then followed the sunlight reflected in the mirror, raised her face and smiled. , a beautiful smile, she needs sunshine too much. She briefly opened in front of Kiri like an underground flower that had not seen the sun for a long time, but then all she blurted out was that she wanted to make a deal with him. She was a smart woman who obviously needed love so much, but was limited to making a deal. All the joys have come to this point, come to an abrupt end, and cross the past is eternal calamity. This woman, if it wasn't for Ricky's greedy and high-profile message to the Circus, which led to the gopher's counterattack, she could have achieved great things like Kara.
Our Smiley continues his Prince's Revenge. He wisely began to investigate the list of retirees after the Hungarian incident, and found that Connie, the intelligence queen, had also left the rounder two months after his retirement, and he found her.
From the surprised look in Connie's eyes when she saw Smiley, her body more bloated than before, and the doctor's admonition not to let her drink alcohol, it can be seen what kind of life she has lived after retirement. Some small details can be seen in Smiley's sophistication - he brought a bottle of wine to see Connie, they were the same kind of people, the same experience, the same mind (when Smiley arrived at Connie's door, Connie 's students are rehearsing The Prince's Revenge at the door), they need catharsis to meet, they need alcohol.
Connie tells Smiley that she was forced to retire because she suspects Polyakov, an important rounder informant, and advocates investigating him. Polyakov, the Soviet cultural counselor in the UK, has been bought by the rounder, and his background is innocent, "white is the same as washing powder". Such an unsullied past aroused Connie's suspicion. The Queen of Intelligence began to investigate a large amount of information in the past, and finally found a suspicious point from a video of the Berlin military parade in East Germany. A senior military official inadvertently gave him a military salute. Why give a military salute to a cultural counselor, Polyakov is likely to be a member of the military. Connie's dedication and intelligence caused her to lose her job. It was obvious that there was something wrong with Polyakov, and the conspiracy in the rounder was being uncovered little by little by Smiley.
Connie showed Smiley a photo of her former Circus colleague during World War II. "This is Pledo and Bill Haydn. They are always inseparable. This young officer is the boss, and everyone is like a big family." Connie lamented the beauty of the past to Smiley. The war that brought the British pride, although cruel, made Britain united, motivated and full of hope. It was the last victory of the empire on which the sun never sets...
A group of children on the grass While chasing a car and playing, the driver was a child named Bill, and a teacher who walked with a hunched shoulder followed the child, he was Pledo. He did not die on the streets of Budapest, but was seized by the Soviet Central Committee, tortured and interrogated, and then released back to the United Kingdom. Smiley also finally found this place, and met the most direct party to the Budapest incident that caused the boss and him and the "Knights" to collapse. Pledo told Smiley what happened after the mission failed. He was interrogated by the central government for a long time, and finally met Carla, who killed Irina who was caught in the Riki incident in front of him, that is The gopher that this person placed in the Circus played with the Circus in the palm of his hand.
Smiley recalled the past, when the Soviet Union carried out a major purge after World War II, the "Central" was torn apart, and many spies defected. Smiley met Carla when he was in charge of receiving spies, and he wanted to convince Carla to leave the evil country and go to the West. In the civilized world, the reason is that when Carla returns, not only will he be purged, but also his wife and children will be implicated. But Kara didn't say anything, knowing that she would die if she went back, she still got on the plane to Moscow. He took Smiley's lighter with the inscription: To George, from Ann. All my love. This was a lighter given to him by Smiley's wife Ann. Carla took away the lighter that symbolized the love between Smiley and his wife, and also took away Smiley's weakness. Unlike the rounders, Kara is not able to see any weaknesses. In the most desperate situation, she can still perform her duties calmly when she is about to be purged by the country she is loyal to at any time. Compared to Ricky, he is the perfect spy. Kara, who returned to Moscow, not only did not die, but also climbed to the core position of Moscow's "center", and used Smiley's weakness to better hide the gophers he arranged. In the movie, Carla never shows up, always hides in the dark, and is given a mysterious and powerful halo by the director. People inside and outside the movie only know his skillful skills and decisiveness, but they have no way of knowing what kind of person he is. .
All kinds of clues made Smiley roughly guess what happened to the gophers in the Circus. Polyakov was Kara’s person, and his real identity should be a senior officer of the Moscow “center”. Kara bleached him as Moscow culture in London. The counselor, pretending to surrender to the West, sent information of little value to the Circus, while the gophers at the top of the Circus provided him with really important information. The Circus thought that Polyakov was a golden mountain, and developed a "witchcraft plan" around him, but he never imagined that this plan had completely become a free transmitter for the Soviets. I think Smiley had probably figured out who the gopher was, but it was the trick Carla had put on him that kept him out of this area that was causing him great pain.
That's Ann, his wife. When Carla saw "To George, from Ann. All my love" engraved on Smiley's lighter, she was probably deeply stinged. Smiley, a former opponent, at that time inadvertently showed him the superiority of the West and the happiness of his family, but he was faced with the doom of fleeing, and he would be in trouble for his country, and his wife and children could not be guaranteed. In the face of Smiley's temptation, he remained expressionless and silent. He tried his best to resist this huge temptation, and if he accepted it, the colossus in his heart would instantly collapse. He tried his best to defend the colossus in his heart from collapsing, even at the cost of ruining his family. Carla took Smiley's lighter and boarded the plane back home with jealousy, frustration, despair, guilt for his wife and children, and a complicated mood of death. After 20 years, he used the inspiration brought by the lighter to complete the story of Xiang Shi. Miley and the British get their revenge.
The person who helped him complete his revenge was the gopher--Bill Hayden (tailor), who was beloved by Pledo, a suave and suave born rounder. According to Carla's intention, Bill really hit Smiley by seducing Smiley's wife to cheat and letting Smiley find out. "To George, from Ann. All my love", this is the colossus in Smiley's heart. This pillar fell, and Smiley seemed to have lost his sharpness and aura, and quickly weakened.
Although Bill was an orthodox from Oxford and had a noble family background, he was an outlier in the Circus. As soon as he appeared in the movie, he rode a bicycle into the office building of Circular, and was able to handle the new female colleagues with ease, which is the image of an uninhibited talent. This character image has been endowed with multiplicity, noble family, higher education, typical British, bisexual, uninhibited, rounder, and allied with the Soviet Union... Only the last one can't be linked to the previous one. It's out of line. In the original book, it was said that Bill surrendered to the Soviet Union after he was completely disappointed with the traditional capitalist world represented by the United Kingdom and had seen through it thoroughly. Believe that Bill is a wise man, he sees the western world and perceives the irreversible decline of the great empire on which the sun never sets. This declining sense of powerlessness has always corroded his heart. He can no longer love the country like the people of the "Knights", and it is impossible to be in the company of the pro-American "Clowns" who returned from the colonies... But what about the Soviet Union? Could it be that wise Bill cannot penetrate the void of communism?
In the original book, Pledo loves Bill deeply. If Britain is a colossus, Bill is the eyes of the colossus. Without Bill, the colossus will be eclipsed. Bill's betrayal turned everything Pledo paid into a joke. He couldn't tolerate the continued existence of the colossus that had lost its brilliance. He shot and killed Bill himself and knocked down the colossus. Turn all your despair and grief into bullet holes like teardrops in the corners of your lover's eyes, and look up at the twilight of the empire. Everything that was once so heavy was dissipated so easily. Between the heavy and the light, the world was flowing with water, and it was a sigh of a dream.
The color of the entire film is dark and rarely seen in sunlight, and the rhythm is slow and there are few ups and downs. It is always filled with twilight dust. It is the afterimage of the empire that never sets the sun sinking slowly in the afterglow of the sunset, and the afterimage that is staged in this afterimage. Human Tragedy.
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