&quot;No, Not the Mind Probe!!?!&quot;

Wow! THAT is one HELL of a cast - I shall definitely want to watch it at some point.

(Not seen the TV series - maybe I'll add it to my LoveFilm rental list if they have it!)

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It's good. It's very..."slow" sounds like a criticism, but really it's one of the things about it, this sort of stillness and quiet to it that draws you in over the course of the seven episodes. Plus Alec Guinness gives an absolutely towering performance as Smiley (lots of other good actors in it - Michael Jayston, Ian Richardson, Ian Bannen, Beryl Reid etc etc etc - a bearded Patrick Stewart has a really small, non-speaking cameo as Smiley's Russian nemesis, which amuses me for some reason). Looks like they're injecting a bit more sex and violence into the film version - not that it's not there in the book, but it's usually off-screen, so to speak.

But as you say, hell of a cast. No Ben Daniels, but you can't have everything ;) No, seriously, I could see him doing "steely spymaster" very well indeed.

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Yes, I looked to see if the library had the DVD (rather than Love Film) and swooned over the cast list on that one.

(Have you seen Ben in The State Within? He's pretty steely in that!)

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It is a very impressive line-up, definitely. :)

That's the one with Jason Isaacs in too? I remember when that was on, but I didn't end up watching it, unfortunately. Can't remember why. Looked good, though, I seem to remember.

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It is, it is! I am most impressed by the line-up.

Yes, The State Within features Jason Isaacs as the British Amabassador. Ben plays Nicholas Brocklehurst, an MI5 agent who is amazingly ambiguous - I spent much of the time wondering if he was a good guy or a bad guy. If you can get hold of it, I highly recommend it (and I'm not even a huge fan of political thrillers).

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Well, I kind of am. It depends on what kind of political thriller, really. Without wanting to sound sort of chauvinistic, I think the British ones tend to be a bit more cynical and less overwrought, which appeals to me. But yes, I'll make a note of that - it'll be yet another recent-ish telly drama I managed to miss and mean to catch up with if I ever get the chance. :)

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Oh, it is British - but set mostly in America - Isaacs is the British Ambassador in Washington. Sharon Gless plays a really hard-assed US - I want to say Minister but of course, they're not called that, and my just-awake-brain is failing to find the right word, but yeah - she's in charge of defence.

It's a very complex and multi-layered drama - well worth spending time watching, I think.

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Do they call it Secretary of Defense? (With an "s" ;D) It sounds good, anyway - I'll have to endeavour to check it out at some point.

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That's the one - thanks!

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But the stillness about is what Smiley's all about. The man who sat silently and waited for a jackboot to kick in the door, dealing with new era where the threat isn't so identifiable in the same implacable --- on the surface --- way. Guinness was never better.

Gary Olman. I think he can do that, too. If they've let him. He can wrap himself in a stillness that will work on this.

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I agree. I think the thing about Smiley is that he's so incredibly self-contained - it goes beyond "hidden depths". It's a bit of cliche to say people aren't what they seem, but in his case... Plus he has this deep sense of compassion and morality even though he's at the same time such a formidable operator in a business where they're the first things to go by the wayside. And as you say, Guinness brings it all out in an incredibly nuanced and subtle performance. I especially like the scene towards the end of the series after "Gerald" has been unmasked where Smiley is presiding over what's left of the Circus and you sort of see a different side of him, except that it's been there all along just below the surface.

Another thing I'd say about the TV adaptation is that it's so stylised. Top class directing - it looks and sounds and generally is a little bit weird, a little bit off-kilter, which fits the themes and the plot very well.

I think Gary Oldman can do just about anything he wants - I think he's a very, very good actor. Unfortunately, like many of our very, very good actors he's spent the last 20 years or so doing a lot of roles that don't really require somebody of his talent. But you know, they do it for a living, don't they? I've read some talk that this role might get him an award or two. I hope so.

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I think the thing about Smiley is that he's so incredibly self-contained...

Absolutely. There is real steel under his mild-mannered outward appearance, but you don't know it until he wants you to see it. And I think his sense of morality and compassion (which makes him put up with Anne, for one thing) is what makes him formidable. He knows when he's not just stepping on toes; he knows when he's ordering people to go have their heads lopped off, but he does it anyway because it needs to be done for a greater good. Guinness caught that perfectly; I think Oldman can, too. We shall see.

There is, however, something about the way Ian Bannen said "And as much as God hath showed thee all this," when he said it, that makes me think it won't be matched. Again, we'll see. This is a movie that will get Stateside release? If you know?

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I would hope it did, but who knows? But you're right about that bit in the school chapel - that'll be hard to match. I hope they don't ditch all the school stuff completely in the interests of slimming the story down to movie-length (I mean, they cut quite a bit of it in the tv series too), because I think it's an important part of the story, seeing what became of Prideaux after he came back from Czechoslovakia and his interaction with the boys is good stuff.

But yes, that's Smiley - he knows the consequences of what he does, and they weigh heavily upon him even as he does what he knows he has to do. And the very powers of perception that make him a basically good man, and a deeply-self critical man also enable him to see deep into the nature of the people around him, and to see their weaknesses and exploit them even as he feels guilty for doing so. I think that comes out most clearly in the climax to Smiley's People, where Smiley and Karla's roles are almost reverses, and even though he's won this great victory, Smiley can't really enjoy it because he knows the compromises he's made to bring it about (essentially using an otherwise quite evil man's one chink of human love and compassion to destroy him).

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And the very powers of perception that make him a basically good man, and a deeply-self critical man also enable him to see deep into the nature of the people around him, and to see their weaknesses and exploit them even as he feels guilty for doing so.

Yes. And there's a sadness about him, too, that seems to come from knowing himself and others the way his insight lets him do. Sadness is I think the word I'm looking for. Can't think of anything else at this moment.

It's been yonks since I read the books. I now have impetus to do so. Thanks!

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"Sadness", I think, really does sum him up. In the TV version of Tinker, Tailor, Ann says "Poor George, life's such a puzzle to you, isn't it?" And I'm not sure that's true, really - I think if anything, Smiley understands the world and the people in it too well. He has no illusions, and that's a terrible thing for anybody to bear. Except when it comes to his feelings around Ann. Maybe. (And it's suggested that that's why Karla encouraged Bill Haydon to have an affair with her - because she's the one area where Smiley doesn't see clearly)

But, yes - glad to have been an encouragement to you! :D I think I first read them when I was about 17 or 18, and I've re-read them every few years since. They're a bit like Tolkien for me. ;D It's generally considered that The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is Le Carre's greatest work, and it's certainly a very good book, but for me the "Karla Trilogy" starring Smiley are just masterpieces.

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akashasheiress.livejournal.com

You've seen Let the Right One in, now? It's great, isn't it?

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Yes, I finally got around to it some time ago. And you're right - it really is. :)

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You know, the problem is that I saw Alec Guiness and Michael Jayston before I read the book and they stick in my mind. But, even with no speakers, this looked good. I'd see it. If it comes here.

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