Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Elevator Pitch

In the early 1970s Control, the head of MI6, suspects that there is a mole in the senior management and, on the possibility of finding out who it is, sends Jim Prideaux to Hungary. But Prideaux is shot and as a result Control and his right hand man George Smiley are sacked. Later Smiley is recalled to secretly investigate the allegations and to find out who the mole is. Central to his investigation is a secret information source “Witchcraft” and the evidence of Ricky Tarr an agent on the run after becoming involved with a Russian spy in Istanbul.

Content

For much of the film Smiley looks into the middle distance possibly thinking about the case, or the fact tht his wife is being unfaithful to him. He, and his assistants spend time in the grey and dusty offices of MI6 and more secret locations. Mostly in flashback meetings take place and the various failings of the management are revealed. There are three shots fired, all of them important to the plot, one distantly viewed male and female coupling, some drinking and a lot of smoking.