Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2011 Directed by Tomas Alfredson

How do you find an enemy who is hidden right before your eyes?

In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet mole within his former colleagues at the heart of MI6.

Gary Oldman Colin Firth Tom Hardy Mark Strong Ciarán Hinds Benedict Cumberbatch David Dencik Stephen Graham Simon McBurney Toby Jones John Hurt Kathy Burke Roger Lloyd Pack Svetlana Khodchenkova Arthur Nightingale John le Carré Christian McKay Konstantin Khabenskiy Linda Marlowe Michael Sarne Stuart Graham Zoltán Mucsi Laura Carmichael Amanda Fairbank-Hynes Ilona Kassai Imre Csuja Péter Kálloy Molnár Peter O'Connor Jamie Thomas King Show All…

Alternative Titles

El talp, Дама, поп, асо, шпионин, O Espião Que Sabia Demais, 谍影情仇, 间谍疑云, El Talp, El topo, La taupe, 谍网谜踪, Suszter szabó baka kém, 팅커 테일러 솔저 스파이, Szpieg, A Toupeira, 諜影行動, 谍影行动, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

mystery drama thriller

127 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Sacha ★★★★ 9

This film is so unlike anything I've seen Hollywood churn out recently that I was genuinely staggered. You have to concentrate. Hard. For the entire film. Alfredson gives you no easy routes, and you find yourself crossing your eyes in frustration. Is this a flashback? Is this guy dead? What's happening here? And yet despite how much effort you have to put in, the atmospheric approach makes it seem worth it. A malevolent, dreary London; a secret service turned corrupt bureaucracy. There are no James Bonds here, no glamour. Just paranoia, creeping cynicism, overwhelming nostalgia. Oldman's turn as Smiley is note perfect. Betrayed personally and professionally, doggedly pursuing the truth.
Go in with your thinking hat on. It's worth it.
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 7

"it was an aesthetic choice as much as a moral one. the west has grown so very ugly, don’t you think?" bureaucratic barbarism, an empire on its deathbed, a movie about how state espionage is as tedious and soul-sucking as it is impotent and grisly. i hope y'all will give this the best of the decade consideration it deserves.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 2

94
"The spy sub-genre frequently acts below its material. Gadgetry and the thrill of espionage — chases, gunfights, assassinations — is preferred to the slum of work, the intensity of mistrust, and the mundanity of keeping the world safe. The genre, at least, is unaware of the spy game's constant dangers. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson and gorgeously photographed by Hoyte Van Hoytema, is a revelation for committing to such banal trials and tribulations, enhancing the image of a sought-after file or an open window to a level of similar dynamism. Based on John le Carré’s novel of the same name, intelligence isn’t ignored or put aside in favor of visceral kicks; instead, it realigns to an…
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 9

"It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?"
I don't have a whole lot to say that I didn't already cover in my first review, so I'll try to keep this simple. I think it's an incredible testament to this film's success that an idiot like me can enjoy it. You see, I'm horribly incapable of following convoluted storylines. I can always understand enough to know generally what's going on, but if you asked me for specifics I'd probably just shrug my shoulders. If I watch a movie enough times I can eventually take it all in (eg. after countless watches I can finally explain what happens in Primer), but this is only my second…
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 2

there are no more morals left to be eroded, no more heroes, just a bunch of weary sociopaths looking for any kind of aesthetic pleasure in a labyrinth of confusion and carnage
Review by matt lynch ★★★★½

THE FUTURE IS FEMALE

Recent reviews

Review by Joey James ★★

Almost didn’t finish it...
Review by Ike ★★★★

For a slow burning thriller, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy moves pretty fast. The cast for this movie is great, they basically got every popular British actor from the last 30 years to star in this movie. The story has many twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat and made me question what was actually happening in the movie. Though this was an excellent thriller I think the two hour run time was way too short, this story would’ve been able to go into more details and dive into other side plots if it would’ve been a ten episode mini-series instead.
Review by skunkmonk

Not the film to watch when your a bit zooted! Kinda fell asleep in the first 45 mins, so didn’t really know what was going on. But what I will say is that they did a good job of the set and probs and shizzle, very convincing 1970s! A film I should probably rewatch at a later date. So it goes.
Review by Benjamin Jensen ★★★½

Movies I Thought of While Watching:
The Good Shepard, Red Sparrow, Syriana
Review by Timothy Lawrence ★★★★★

“Like Prideaux with Haydon or Tarr with Irina, Smiley’s love for Ann challenges his ability to see, and her infidelity jeopardizes his role as a detached observer. When he pushes his glasses back into place, they are no longer implements that help him see but shields that protect him from pain and mask his weakness.”
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is one of those rare, excellent films that could sustain many thousands of words of analysis, but I tried to limit myself by focusing in on the final montage, which I have adored since I first saw it years ago:
filmfisher.com/2020/05/looking-at-tinker-tailor-soldier-spy/
Review by stevecoj ★★

D - disliked it
Review by Austin ★½

ya know, there is probably a good movie somewhere here, but not for me. i had no idea what was going on, maybe that's my fault and not the movie's but it just didn't get my attention at all
Review by LordConcorde ★★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Indecipherable on the surface, but underneath that cold exterior is a film with more heart than most, and more skill than any. And the greatest montage ever.
The first time you watch, maybe you understand just enough to appreciate the film. The second time, you appreciate just how little you understood the first time. By the third time, you can appreciate each scene for how perfectly it fits into the jigsaw, and how immaculately they stand by themselves.
At the centre of it all is Oldman, who performs with such gravity that even the words he utters barely escape his mouth. It's a rare pleasure to see the inverse correlation of a performance powerful for its understatement and restraint. At…
Review by Jake Goldstein-Street ★★★½

It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?
This isn't your parents' spy movie. It doesn't have the thrills of a chase scene featuring Robert Redford or Warren Beatty. It tells its stories less in violence than in deep breaths, beads of sweat, and bureaucratic maneuver. This results in what might be a more accurate depiction of espionage infighting and intrigue, but also takes away the excitement of the conceit.
Based on a John le Carré novel and featuring a who's who of white British actors, it has the potential to be great, but is so slow and sparse on details that make the story difficult to follow at times as motivations are only laid…