The background of the film is set during the Cold War, and it tells the story of how British spy Smiley found out the "inner ghost" that the Soviet Union planted at the top of the Circus (British Intelligence Department).
However, when it comes to movies, I have to mention the classic original work by British writer John Le Carre (who served as a British spy). This novel has many characters, complex information (there are many technical terms), and constantly cross-narrative in time and space, and it was adapted into a TV series as early as 1979 by BBC Radio, but now I want to compress the 7-episode TV series into 2 hours of film, the difficulty can be imagined.
Therefore, screenwriters have a heavy task. Not only do they want to avoid the movie being overly verbose, but they want to keep the story intact. It can only discard many interesting dialogues in the book, and at the same time, it does not care about making each character's character stand out, and even deletes part of the plot. For example, the protagonist Smiley's wife, Ann, does not appear face-to-face once in the film. For another example, the movie also simplifies the plot of how Ricky Tal reported to the top after returning to London. Therefore, these cuts can have a large impact on the interpretation of the film's narrative and plot by viewers who have not seen the original. Although the characters and plot have been deleted, the final screenplay is excellent enough. Some minimalism and blank processing make the movie meaningful, and there are also bold adaptations of the original work by the screenwriters. Its success lies in making appropriate adjustments and deletions to the sequence of events and characters according to the needs of the film. For example, at the beginning of the original book, the incognito Jim Pledo appeared first, and from the perspective of a primary school student, the story was slowly heated up in the seemingly peaceful countryside; while the script why the rhythm of the film is straight-forward, and the beginning is Tell the core of the story from the perspective of the general manager (the head of the circle) - five high-level personnel, who are the "inner ghosts"?
Now that there is the BBC's classic TV series Yuzhu in front, it seems difficult to make this movie better than the TV series. If you don't inject unique blood into it, this work will eventually be forgotten. Swedish director Thomas Alfredson accurately captured the unique atmosphere of the Cold War and spread this atmosphere into the film, which makes people feel a unique style. In fact, this kind of atmosphere is already displayed at the beginning of the movie: the door of the manager is black and heavy, and the room is messy, empty, and dilapidated. When the supervisor was talking to Jim, the lighting engineer deliberately cast most of the shadows on the faces of the two actors, and the texture of the shot was also cold and blue, which looked cold and depressing. Then the camera turned to the task location, and a long shot of motion included the children's laughter. The sound and the roar of the plane, a chilling atmosphere rushed towards him. This atmosphere has been permeating the neat movie ever since, although it is a bit exaggerated, but the movie has repeatedly tried to render the unique atmosphere of the Cold War era, so that every frame is soaked in that gloomy, low and desolate mist, because this is not only a The protagonist Smiley, a "veteran" who has seen through the mystery and is exhausted, is also a true portrayal of the British society that fell into a lost mood after World War II. So looking back at the movie, you can understand why the director deliberately kept London in the 1970s foggy forever, and why he deliberately set the Circus in an empty and cold big house (in the original book, it was a crowded and small office).
At the same time, in order to further emphasize this emotion, several scenes that were not in the original book were also added to the movie, and that "Christmas party" must be a highlight. Almost all the characters appeared, either with a few words or a glimpse, every line and even every look had a lot of meaning. Who among the characters is calculating whom? Who is suspicious of whom? Who saw through who? Various character relationships and foreshadowings are naturally presented. Furthermore, the joyful festive atmosphere does not match the melancholy mood of the whole film. The warmer the memories are, the more sad the reality is. This kind of strange feeling also reached a climax after the Soviet red song.
Finally, have to praise the strong chemistry between the whole British team in the movie? The film brings together not only old (John Hurt, Gary Oldman), middle (Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Mark Strong), young (Benedict) Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy). And each actor is a leader in his corresponding age group. Although the characters in the book have different personalities and rich layers, each actor's interpretation of his own role can be described as perfect, which all stem from the solid drama skills of British actors. Therefore, every time the characters in the movie make eye contact, there are sparks in every eye contact, and a few words of temptation are hidden in the needles. The most typical example is the circular meeting at the beginning of the movie. The five characters sit quietly in an empty and calm office. Even if there is no line, the actors perform the seemingly calm on the surface, but the heart is surging. situation.
Adapting this classic novel is extremely difficult, but the new Swedish director Thomas Alfredson has mastered the film and directed the actors as best as possible. Hope it can become Sweden's second Ingmar Bergman.
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