Friendly reminder, since it is a detailed analysis of the plot, the text content is of course spoiled, and naked spoilers.
After thinking about it for a long time, I didn't know how to describe it, so I had to say that "The Potsmith, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" was the best-watched movie recently, exquisite, stylish, and extraordinary. To me, this is a movie comparable to "Eavesdropping Storm" (Das Leben der Anderen).
After reading it, many people said they didn't understand it, or even if they didn't understand, some people dared to come out and scold it. I could only shake my head.
Although it may seem scattered, the film is actually based on classical narrative (rather than structuralism). The main line of the film is clear, and it ends in a complete ending, with clear causality. Although a lot of flashbacks are used throughout the film, they are all based on one main line, and the story told by clear branch characters. That is to say, Smelly's tracing of the inner ghost is a continuous development main line. Every flashback, Every time a narrative is interrupted, it is actually a character who tells a story in a logical sequence. The reason why I can't understand it is because the amount of information in the film is very large and fragmented, like a huge puzzle, not because of its obscure expression. The film is not only not obscure, but also vivid and full of respect for the interpretation of the times and characters.
It is precisely because of this that, as a spy film, the main shaping of the film is based on the era and the characters. The context of the story is relatively simple, and the suspense is not strong.
1. Background of
the story During the Cold War, the British intelligence agency "Circus" was planted by the Soviets with the spy "mole". The person in charge of Circus at the time, the "Control" was aware of this, and launched an investigation on his own. The agent Jim Prideaux was sent to Hungary to obtain the identity of the spy. He did not want to take a business trip. Jim was attacked and the manager was forced to leave his post and died shortly afterwards.
A field officer in Yuanchang accidentally discovered the presence of a spy, and reported that he was in danger and reported that the British Ministry of Defense found the "beggar" George Smiley who had resigned from Yuanchang, and he secretly investigated it. The target was locked in the four senior leaders of Yuanchang. .
British explorer played by old drama of bone John Hurt, whose starred in "Harry Potter" series, "V for Vendetta", "master key" and other films;
sent to Hungary, played by Jim Pleasant multi Mark Strong, his close For several years, he has starred in "Alien Battlefield", "Green Lantern", "Detective Sherlock Holmes", "King of Sea", "Body of Lies", etc.; the
male number one in this film, George Smalley is played by the famous Gary Oldman, He has played the big bosses of "Air Force One", "Killing Ang", "The Fifth Element", and...too famous, not much introduction.
Almost all of the main roles of the film are played by famous British actors, and the lineup is unprecedentedly strong. Let's begin to analyze the plot.
2. Jim Zhongfu
Jim was personally arranged by the director to conduct a secret operation (00:02:06-nobody else knows)-to go to Hungary to exchange information. The information was called a priceless treasure by the director, and the information was the Soviets inside Yuanchang. The identity of the spy "Gopher" inserted.
The director mentioned in the conversation that his position has been coveted for a long time (00:02:12-they're after my head), and this refers to Percy Alleline and others. Pansy, codenamed "The Pot Crafter", is starred by the small British actor Toby Jones, who was featured in the recent British drama "Titanic".
At this time, the general manager already knows that there is a spy at the top of the circle, and trusts (it can be said to be the only trust) Jim.
Jim joins a general in Hungary. Of course, this is a trap. This scene is very simple. Jim sees the clues, such as a general who has not appeared, a highly nervous waiter, and eyeliners all around. During the trapping of Jim, the waiter was too nervous and shot Jim. This operation was done by the Soviets instructing the Hungarians, and the person in charge of the operation screamed—Hungarian amateurs (00::05:35-English translation of fucking Hungarian amateurs).
3. The general
manager was removed from the Yuanchang headquarters, and the general manager was removed. At that time, there were six high-level members of Yuanchang sitting in the room. According to the dialogue, it was obvious that the manager was squeezed off the stage by Pansy and others. The direct cause was the failure of Hungary's operation. At the same time, the manager arranged for Smelly to leave with him. Smelly was quite surprised, and the reason was unknown. According to the following plot, we know that the reason why Smelly was arranged to leave was because, on the one hand, Smelly was a close friend of the manager; on the other hand, this departure was an arrangement made by the manager for the future.
The manager and Smiley left calmly, everyone's attention, including Jerry Westerby (Jerry Westerby) who will play later.
Pansy and the capable man, Roy Bland, watched their two rivals in the workplace leave, and have since been able to take the top position. Roe, codenamed "Soldier", is starred by Ciarán Hinds, who is the actor of Caesar in the famous American drama "Rome".
The camera moves along with the documents in the elevator, one reveals the rigorous and dull working atmosphere of the round field, and the two reflect the passage of time and work as usual.
The general manager died alone in the ward. Although not a sudden death, it was also quite desolate. Smelly swimming outdoors, somehow implying that he is always healthy. At this time, Smiley refitted a pair of dark-rimmed glasses. Because the movie used multiple flashbacks, this detail is an important time mark of the film. Smiley wears walnut glasses before he is removed from office. Wearing dark-rimmed glasses is after removal.
As an agent's habit, when Smelly goes out, a piece of sawdust is caught on the door frame (00:12:05).
Among them is a section of Smalli staring at a picture on the wall. This picture is liked by Smalli's wife Ann (Ann). Ann is carrying Smalli on his back with Bill Haydn (introduced later), another high-level executive in Yuanchang. , And everyone knows in the circle.
The Deputy Minister of Defense Oliver Lacon accused Pansy and others of their operation witchcraft for unreasonable cost processing. Lacan is played by Simon McBurney. This dispute aims to explain the general content of the witchcraft operation: Pansy and others obtained information leaked by the Soviet Union-of course, according to the plot of the whole film, the source of this information is the conspiracy of the Soviets- Later, Pansy mentioned that the intelligence source could participate in the decision-making at the highest level of the Soviet Union. At this time, Pansy and others vowed to use this to exchange information with the Americans. In the dispute, it was mentioned that Yuanchang rented a house and provided it to the Soviet Cultural Counselor Alexsey Aleksandrovich Polyakov (Alexsey Aleksandrovich Polyakov) for communication. He was responsible for obtaining information from Soviet intelligence sources, and then Pansy and others personally To fetch.
Polyyakov is played by Russian actor Konstantin Khabensky.
At the same time, the Soviet spy chief Karla (Karla) was mentioned in the dialogue. Kara is the main opponent of the round field in the whole series of works, and he never appeared in the film.
4. A
special agent named Ricki Tarr, who was appointed to investigate the Yuanchang, leapfrogged the ranks and dialed the number of Deputy Minister Lacan. During the field operation, he discovered that there was an inner ghost in Yuanchang and was framed as a defector and ventured back to his country. Rikitar is played by Tom Hardy, the "forger" in "Inception" and recently starred in "Warrior".
Rickettar’s boss is Peter Guillam (Peter Guillam), played by Benedict Cumberbatch, needless to say, the blessing in the hot BBC "Sherlock".
Soon, Peter Gillham drove away Smelly late at night. Smiley meets with Deputy Minister Lacan. Lacan informs that there is a spy who has been lurking for many years at the top of Yuanchang (and is still in power), and that Smiley, who is already outside, is the best person to seduce the rape. When the general manager was in power, he reported this to Lacan but no one believed it. Then the Hungary operation failed (Jim was shot) and the general manager was forced to step down. To this day, Lacan, naturally including the British authorities, has to believe it because of reports that have been leapfrogged.
Note that Smelly didn’t speak for the first time until it was nearly 18 minutes (00:17:56-I'm retired, Oliver. You fired me.)-I'm very retired with the surname O. You guys open it. except me:).
Later, Smelly rented an office under the pseudonym Graham Pope (Graham Pope-00:20:30), and Peter Gillham and a retired inspector general Mendel (Mendel) began the investigation.
5. Several chess pieces
Smaili first went to the manager’s residence to check. There were a few chess pieces on the table with photos of several high-levels in Yuanchang, including Smaili’s, but they had been put aside by the manager. The camera alluded to the manager who had suspected everyone, including Smiley, but eventually ruled out his suspicion (or at least thought that Smiley was the least likely to collude with the enemy), and arranged for Smiley to retire on the day of his departure. Smaili looked at these chess pieces with mixed feelings. It turned out that his resignation was the only arrangement that the director had time to make before his death.
Flashback. There was a fierce dispute in the conference room. At that time, Pansy and others obtained Soviet intelligence from a new intelligence source, and passed the boss to report directly to the higher level (00:24:00), and the veteran Smaili pointed out its current affairs. (Topicality) suspicious. Naturally, these intelligences were deliberately stuffed by the Soviets to the British through the new sources of intelligence that Pansy was proud of. In this dispute, it can be clearly seen that the director and Smelly are on one side, Pansy and Roe and Toby (Toby Esterhase) are on the other side, and Toby is codenamed "Poor Man". According to the dialogue, he has obviously been in charge. The favor, but betrayed, so he was extremely disdainful by the manager.
In fact, according to the following plot, Toby was wanted in Austria, but the manager rescued him. Toby didn't want to return, but finally stood in Pansy's team.
Another high-level person, Bill Haydon, code-named "Tailor", was quite peaceful. Bill Haydn is starred by Colin Firth, the king actor in "The King's Speech".
Smiley puts Kara's name on a white queen (actually yellow), thinking that all of this is closely related to Kara. According to the plot, Smelly and Kara have a lot of origins, and Smelly will have a monologue in the future to tell the past.
6. An unannounced visit to
Peter Gillem returned to Yuanchang to get some information. After the manager left, Pansy and others adjusted the personnel of Yuanchang (00:28:20-nothing more than appointing cronies and excluding dissidents).
Pansy can report directly to the Secretary of Defense at this time, and once again mentioned that he wants to conduct intelligence transactions with the Americans. At this time, Pansy, relying on the important intelligence source at hand, is invincible and threatens to break into the US intelligence.
Among several suspiciously retired personnel, Smelly first approached Connie Sachs, a fat female agent who resembled the image of a Zhang Jiang woman on the Internet. Connie is played by British actor Kathy Burke.
The aforementioned intermediary for obtaining information-Soviet Cultural Counsellor Polyyakov, has been in charge of the investigation of his identity by Connie. In reviewing the video, Connie discovered that Polyyakov's identity was concealed, so she reported Pansy and Toby ("the potter" and "the poor"), and then she was fired.
Obviously Connie has a very good relationship with Smelly and the generation of Yuanchang. Connie mentioned Smiley's regrettable relationship between husband and wife, and took out everyone's old photos, including one of Jim Prado and Bill Haydn, and another when the manager was young.
This section is full of nostalgia for the young age. Of course, more importantly, it reflects the state of the British intelligence agencies at the time, and even indirectly reflects the state of the East and West intelligence agencies and their staff during the Cold War. At that time, the bureaucracy of the British intelligence agency was severe, and internal personnel struggles were fierce. The dialogue talks about the war period that the British are proud of (00:33:39-Old Circus is gone anyway, 00:34:25-"That was a good time, George". "It was the war, Connie". "A real war. Englishmen could be proud then".), of course, the implication is not to long for war, but to mean that the current work is trapped in the quagmire of mutual fighting among these institutions and institutions, and has lost everything that is worthy of pride. .
At the same time, the photo of Jim and Bill that appeared earlier also hints at an important hidden plot in the whole film, that is, Jim and Bill are actually lovers, at least in the movie they are a close couple (00:34:09- The inseparables). It doesn't matter if you don't see it, you'll understand it later.
When Smelly left, Connie told him not to come back again. She wanted to keep everyone's beautiful image. As a result, the camera flashed back to a Christmas party, and there were several flashbacks after this Christmas party, each time it would explain some clues, and it was also full of nostalgia and tribute. At that time, everyone seemed to be singing and dancing, and the relationship was harmonious, and Pansy and others had not yet shown their ambitions, but Bill Haydn was already screaming at Smelly's wife.
7.
Inside Jim's undead circle, the "Gopher" easily took the files in the secret cabinet, and went in and out like no one—note that the gopher’s left ring finger was wearing a ring—and then went to Polijaco The husband sent intelligence to the Soviets. On this side, Polyyakov's photo has been posted on the chess piece by Smaili, who worked overnight.
Smalley investigated that Jim Pledo received a remittance on his account two months after his accident in Hungary.
Apparently Jim Fredo was not dead. Instead, he kept his name incognito, taught in a school, and met Bill Roach, a dull and introverted student. This involves the "important hidden plot" mentioned above, and it is precisely because this child has the same name as Bill Haydn that Jim takes care of him (00:40:54-known a lot of Bills in my time).
Then there is a scene for a few seconds. Pansy and a person are doing some work such as exchanging documents. Note that there are two American flags standing in the corner of the room. That is to say, Pansy has started the witchcraft operation and has started with the Americans. It's an intelligence transaction.
8. Rikitar sneaked back
and said that when Smelly went out, there would be a piece of sawdust on the door frame. When he came back this time, Smelly found that the sawdust fell on the ground and someone broke into the house.
This person is Rikitar, the field staff member who reported in the previous leapfrog. Note that although he has reported the situation to Deputy Minister Lacan, he is still a "defectionist", so at this time he sneaked back to the UK and found Smelly. Yuanchang didn't know that he was back, so there will be an ending credit. Arrange for Rikitar to go to Paris to pretend to ask Yuanchang for information on the plot.
Ricky told Smalli what happened to him in Hungary. Earlier, Ricky was on a field mission in Turkey, about a month after Jim was shot. Ricky was ordered to instigate a Russian named Boris. His rank is not high. Obviously, the rank of this Russian named Boris is not too high. The scene is relatively simple. Ricky discovers that Boris is also a spy, trained from the Moscow center, so he reports to his boss through a secret reporting point, and plans to return to the UK the next day. But that night, Boris was caught and raped in bed by his wife Irina, and then Irina was caught in a domestic violence. All this was monitored by Ricky. Irina herself was also a spy trained in the Moscow Center, so Ricky Sensitively aware that there is something to be used and material to be excavated, so instead of returning to England the next day, she contacted Irina in violation of the rules. Ricky is a somewhat simple and sensitive young man, and fell in love with Irina as he approached Irina. Irina decides to surrender to the West. As a condition, she informs Yuanchang of the existence of high-level spies.
In fact, Irina didn't necessarily love Ricky, she might just use him as a springboard. She knew Ricky's identity earlier than Ricky thought.
Ricky rushed to the reporting point and reported the astonishing inside story to the end of the field. However, there was no expected response. Then the reporting point was attacked, Ricky was framed, and Irina was captured by the Soviets.
And then this paragraph is connected to the previous plot of Ricky's leapfrog report.
As for Irina, Kara was shot and killed in front of Jim in the following plot.
Then came a period of monitoring by Yuanchang. Yuanchang got the information of Rikitar's trip to Paris, which attracted Bill Haydn's attention, but Toby ("the poor") did not agree. Because Bill Haydn himself was a "gopher", and Ricky's movements were clearly informed by the Soviets.
As for all of this, it is also to pave the way for the end of the film to arrange for Rikital to go to Paris. Because Paris was in the Western camp at the time, this result looked like Rikitar was sent back to the West by the Soviet Union for activities. In fact, Rikitar should have borrowed from Paris and stole back to London.
9. Stealing records
Peter Gillham returned to the round to find the records of the day Rikitar sent the report. This scene is also relatively simple. Peter is looking for records. Mendel called from an auto repair shop. When Peter answered the phone, he avoided the eyeliner and hid the records in his bag.
In the meantime, the young female worker who manages the archives showed good wishes to Peter, but Peter disapproved. Note that Peter is also a homosexual.
In the meantime, Peter was called by Pansy to go to the office to speak, because the "defection" Ricky was Peter's subordinate and returned to Paris to have some activities. This scene also reflects the serious bureaucracy inside Yuanchang, and Pansy feels that he is only covering the sky with his hands. At the same time, it can be seen from the dispute that Peter himself is very concerned about the defect of his subordinates.
Of course, Peter left without danger with the record. However, there is one detail. When stealing the record, Mendel used a piece of music as an accompaniment when he called to cover up environmental sounds, etc. When he left, Peter happened to hear Roe ("soldier") humming subconsciously. This tune. Peter was shocked, he was watched by the round field. When he left, Mendel told Peter that Smelly had changed the office again, which showed that Smelly was more alert. At the same time, Smiley was also extremely careful and meticulous. Before sending Peter to steal the records, he did not inform Rikitar that he had sneaked back in order to prevent Peter from attempting to steal the records, leaking his mouth or being tortured. (01:10:42-Why didn't you tell me that you had Tarr? In case I never made it out of the Circus.)
10. Memories of Cara
Peter was at Smaili and saw Ricky who had defected . Looking through the records, Ricky’s records on the day he sent the report were destroyed, enough to confirm the existence of the "gophers".
Smiley told Peter about his relationship with Kara. In 1955, the Soviet Union was undergoing a major purge, and many Soviet agents fled to the West. At that time, Smaili was ordered to counter Kara and failed. In the meantime, Smalley gave Kara the lighter that his wife An En gave him. Smalli and An En had a bad relationship at the time. This flaw was discovered by Kara and used it. Many years later, Bill Haydn was sent to him. To seduce An En, with the intention of defeating Smaili and affecting his judgment.
This memory of Smiley's self-report is mainly to shape the image of Kara from the side, and it has a lot of information. At that time, Kara was returning to the Soviet Union via India. According to Western intelligence analysis, Kara would be executed when he returned to the Soviet Union. However, Kara refused to take refuge in the West anyway. Cara was tortured by the Americans to extract a confession, and ten nails were pried, which shows his firm will, even fanaticism and paranoia.
Cara does not appear in the whole film. Smalley can't even remember what Carla looked like, but he remembers that the house was small, very hot, and exhausted. This also shows that Kara's aura is so strong that even a character like Smaili feels depressed when facing him.
And the most important thing is that Smelly gave the central idea of the whole film, that is, the true situation of these intelligence personnel in that era: both the East and the West are desperately digging out the flaws of the other party and destroying them, but in fact Which side is not always the same.
(01:14:20-We're not so very different you and I. We're both spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in one another's systems. Don't you think it's time to recognise there is as little worth on your side as there is on mine?) In the
end, Smiley warned Peter that from now on, he had to settle his own affairs as if he had been monitored. Then Peter went home, drove away his boyfriend, and cried bitterly.
The flashback of the Christmas party appeared for the second time. This time the clue was that Smelly saw his wife affair with Bill Haydn with his own eyes. Note that Bill Haydn's left ring finger is wearing a ring.
11. Jim was shot that night
Smelly found another agent, Jerry Westby, who was completely dismissed. Jerry was played by Stephen Graham, who played the Chicago hero Al Capone in "Atlantic Empire". Jim was sent to Hungary to join, and that night the manager arranged Jerry to take charge of the record. Here, the manager anxiously waited for the result, but what he waited for was the sad news that Jim was shot....
Jerry immediately contacted Smelly, who was on a business trip in Berlin and Ann answered the phone. At that time, the round was a mess, Bill Haydn appeared late at night, presided over the overall situation, and finally notified all the spies in Hungary (01:23:16).
Here again I have to mention the "important hidden plot" mentioned above. Pay attention to Bill Haydn's emotions when he learned that Jim was shot, and he wiped tears in the office.
As for how Bill Haydn appeared in the round field late at night, it was obviously impossible to see the news at the club, but because, Smelly was on a business trip, Jerry called Ann, and Bill Haydn was at Smelly’s home at the time. Have an affair with An En.
When Smelly drove back from Berlin, Bill Haydn deliberately appeared at his home to further stimulate Smelly. In the dialogue, he mentioned the painting that Smelly looked at before the film.
12. Visit Jim
history step force visited Jim anonymity. Jim talked about the tasks assigned by the manager. Jim claims that he doesn't believe that there are inner ghosts among the five high-levels ("potsmith," "tailor," "soldier," "poor," and "beggar"), but in fact, Jim already feels that Bill Haydn is.
After being shot, Jim did not die, but was healed and transported by plane to (should be) the Soviet Union. Here, Jim was interrogated to extract a confession. At that time, Jim tried to delay the entire withdrawal of the spy network in Hungary. However, Smelly told him that the spy network had been done in one go. He recalled that Bill Haydn had notified all the spies in Hungary to be summoned in Hungary. It should be Bill Haydn who sold the spy network in Hungary. The conditions required the Soviet Union to save Jim's life.
Cara interrogates Jim personally, in which Irina was shot and killed in front of Jim, and Jim did not confess in the end about how many "gophers" the director knew.
Jim was sent back to England, and Toby (the "poor man") went to visit, set out the code name that the manager had arranged for the top five, and ordered Jim to remain anonymous.
13. The uniform "poor man"
Lacan accompanied the Secretary of Defense to accuse Smalli, but Smalli said that the whole incident was hit by the joint. The "gopher" sent important information to the Soviet Union through Polyyakov. Pansy and others rented a house for witchcraft operations, but the entire United Kingdom thought that the junk intelligence obtained from the Soviet Union was gold and the treasure (01:37:52-Witchcraft's intelligence is genuine, it's been gold), including the Americans The exchange of information was designed by Kara.
Smaili arranged for Rickettard to go to Paris, and Rickettard asked that he could withdraw after the incident, and took Irina away. Since Jim didn't know Irina, it is estimated that Smelly didn't know that Irina was dead.
Toby (the "poor man") is held hostage, and Smelly uses the threat of sending him back to Austria to break Toby's psychological defenses. Toby explained the operation of Pansy and his gang in the witchcraft operation. All four of them went to Polyyakov to meet in person, including the "Gopher" himself.
I have to say that the filming of this section is too good. Smiley is gentle, unobtrusive, and invisible. This Toby is also very well played. The psychological defense is defeated, desperate and helpless, and crying bitterly (01:43) :35).
The most important thing is that Toby gave the address of the joint house.
14.
Smaili and Peter came to the house and installed a wiretap. Rikitar was arranged to count the counts and send a report from Paris to Yuanchang as a defector about "gophers." Mendel monitored that night, and the three senior members of Yuanchang met urgently.
After the meeting, as a "gopher", he must immediately connect with Polyakov and report to the Soviet Union. Naturally, the joint location has been monitored, and Smelly is holding a gun.
Smelly heard the accent of "Gopher". This person was Bill Haydn. Since Bill Haydn and Jim were lovers, then the seduction of An En was naturally designed for him, and Smily once again had mixed feelings.
15. At the end,
Pansy and the others ended sadly. They didn't even look at the umbrella on a rainy day, with a bleak look on their faces. Smiley came to visit Bill Haydn. Bill Haydn is about to be deported. During the dialogue, he expressed his dissatisfaction with Western society. At the same time, it was also said that Jim had visited himself before going to Hungary, and as a lover, he asked Bill Haydn for confirmation and admonition.
There is a conversation here. Bill said that Western society has become ugly; Smelly told the director that he had planned to let Bill take over; Bill angrily said that he was not a handyman; Smelly paused for a second and reprimanded him for what he thought he was. This dialogue has returned to the central idea of the film mentioned before. In fact, no matter the East or the West, everyone is the same. All the agents of that era were not able to fight for their beliefs. In fact, they were just political tools, but They are all pawns in the confrontation of interests.
Bill also explained the special task assigned by Carla to instigate the relationship between Smelly and his wife. In fact, it was a further instigation, because in 55 years, there was already a problem in the relationship between Smelly and Anen. In the end, to a point (up to a point), Smiley also admitted that his judgment was affected. Otherwise, with Smaili’s old ways, he should have detected the existence of "gophers" very early and acted upon them.
Jim will shoot Bill himself, and before the execution, he drove away his student Bill and fell silent by himself.
Flashing back to the Christmas party for the third time, Jerry yawned, implying that the content of this flashback was after the previous two times, that is, the party was about to end. Jim stood in the corner slumped, apparently seeing the affair between Bill and Ann, feeling sad, then Bill appeared, and the two smiled at each other.
Jim came to shoot Bill. Before he died, the two looked at each other through the iron net of fate. No one heard the gunshot. Bill fell into autumn leaves, and Jim's tears rolled down his cheeks.
And over there, Rikitar finally didn't wait for Irina's return.
The happy ending came for Smelly, and An En came back. Smelly, who made great contributions to the round, sat on the top spot that Pansy had done. In the empty office, there was no one but himself.
I have not read the original work, only the bilingual version of YYets, to express my gratitude to the subtitle group. Since I can write so long, so many and so detailed, please believe me. This film is indeed a great work. Don’t believe those who slander the film indiscriminately. Most of them can’t read it, even The door can't be touched. As for those who talk about the original works and the 1970s serials, I believe that most of them have never read the originals, nor have they ever had the opportunity to see the serials. All aesthetics must go through their own eyes and brains.
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