Le Vieux Carre

 I think I had watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011) already, but I can't remember much about it. I assumed that was because it was subtle and convoluted, not because I had fallen asleep. Maybe I was thinking of the Alec Guinness series. Anyway, we watched The Night Manager on Amazon Prime, and Ms. Spenser got on a John Le Carre kick, so we queued it up.

TTSS stars Gary Oldman as George Smiley. But first we see John Hurt as Control send Mark Strong to Budapest to make contact with a potential defector. But a gunfight with the Russians breaks out and he is killed. Control and his protege Smiley are forced to retire in disgrace, allowing Toby Jones to take over the Circus. Toby Jones, what a perfect name for someone who looks like a Welsh Toby mug.

Jones has a secret source high in Soviet intelligence, but since there is a mole at the highest level in the Circus, he won't tell anyone. Meanwhile, is Oldman going to just go fishing? No! But he can trust no one except Peter Guillam - Benedict Cumberbatch, and Ricky Tarr - Tom Hardy. Guillam is the cold, calculating bureaucratic spy, with nerves of steel, an impenetrable poker face and unquestioning loyalty to Smiley. Tarr is more of the Swinging Sixties type spy, racing around on a motor bike and dropping off the map for extended periods after trying to turn a beautiful Russian agent.

I won't go into the plot any further than that. But not because I can't - I didn't fall asleep or get lost much at all. It was certainly tricky, but not at all impossible to follow. There isn't a lot of action, and a lot of story is watching tightly controlled men having tightly controlled conversations. But the actors seem to relish the tamped down acting style and get a lot out of it. Oldman in particular seems to disappear in the part, and the part is a bit of a disappearing act anyway, since Smiley is a grey bureaucrat.

In conclusion, if you want to see Tom Hiddleston as an amateur agent taking down charming arms dealer Hugh Laurie, try The Night Manager.