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 thriller drama

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 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 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 Nakul ★★★★½

This is such a well-crafted movie, Tomas Alfredson adapts the classic Cold-War-based novel of John le Carré for people who are patient with meticulously paced & complex narratives. This spy thriller is a smart, subtle, tense and riveting piece of filmmaking anchored with subtly by the great Gary Oldman and many British heavyweights like John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Review by matt lynch ★★★★½

THE FUTURE IS FEMALE
Review by nathaxnne (hiatus due to injury) ★★★★★ 4

Spooky action at a distance, alchemickal glamour, enthralled servants, reality distortion, clairvoyance, telepathy, the killing word, the torture dungeon, enchantments woven and spells cast, the charged magickal object which gives power over another, the power of naming, of re-naming, of with-holding, the perilous keep entowered, the vaults of secrets, movement in the shadows. It has come to this. My favorite wizard-battle movie is Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of John Le Carre's 'Tinker Taylor Solider Spy'. Gary Oldman as George Smiley is not only the most terrifying person in this movie, but the most terrifying I have ever seen him in anything. In his rumpled, exhausted, whispering near-stillness, the aetheric vibrations are almost visible. We never see the face of his opponent,…
Review by Jizzmonkey ★★★★★ 3

Gary Oldman, the greatest actor of all time. That's pretty much it.
Review by Matt Gourley ★★★★★ 7

Goddamn this movie. Is it my soulmate?
Review by Dan

This seems like it’s probably a four-star movie, but I didn’t understand any of it.
Review by Hamushy ★★★★½ 5

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a Brittish espionage thriller from the Swedish director Tomas Alfredson. The script was adapted from author and former spy, John le Carre's novel by the same name and follows retired spy George Smiley (Gary Oldman) as he is tasked with conducting a secret investigation to figure out which of MI6's four top members is a KGB mole.
The films timeline can be quite hard to grasp and the story somewhat difficult to follow. The reasons being that the film jumps regularly between moments from the past and present and that it doesn't try to explain the current political situation in Europe or the intricacies of Brittish espionage, which are fairly complicated. My second viewing of…

Recent reviews

Review by Jette ★★★★

calm, smart, exciting, gary oldman
Review by chuk4 ★★★★★

Much more complicated than Tennet.
Review by SUJIN_ ★★★★

치밀하고 서늘한 스파이들의 싸움판을 드러내는 탁월함.
Review by Quintessence95 ★★★★

A bit of a puzzle, and very much a slow burn - but worth perservering through. You'll have to pay good attention to this one - the film tells you very little, and shows just enough to get you thinking. Gary "Fucking Chameleon" Oldman shines in an extremely understated role fitting for this extremely understated film.
Review by Tyler Bauer ★★★★

No patriotism, no romanticism, no flare. Just well-done Spycraft. Slip into this like a strong drink on a night off. Oldman owns the screen. Everyone holds up. Some say it’s complicated but just stay alert and you’ll be fine. Good stuff.
Review by Birke ★★★½

Gute Story und wahnsinnig guter Cast, von der Erzählweise aber ein bisschen zu langsam unterwegs...
Review by Tobankorius ★★½

Unterwältigend mit ganz böser Tom-Hardy-Frisur
Review by natalie

too many white men walking up to each other and doing nothing >:( 🤬🤬
and they did it flawlessly 🥰🥰
Review by charlie ★★★½

me giving it 3.5 stars as if i understood any of it
Review by PzudemA ★★★★

Spannend geschrieben und umgesetzt, hervorragender Cast, sehr gut getroffener Look (1A Körnigkeit), spannend und intelligent bis zum Schluss, aber blond steht weder Benedict Cumberbatch noch Tom Hardy.
Review by SuzyZeus ★★★★★

Even though 90% of this movie was men sitting in rooms looking haunted and confused (which were also my two facial expressions while watching), this was truly thrilling.
Review by Önder ★★★★

Kişisel bir şey değildi sadece dikkatini böyle çekmezdim