Monday, 26 September 2011

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Governess




Back to Brighton Marina again where I saw two new films on Tuesday, both based on popular novels with all the baggage that entails: comparisons to previous film and television versions as well as the perception of the original book.

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD


That was more of an issue with the first film for me as it was Jane Eyre and I've not only read (and loved) the novel but have a friend who is a fanatical lover of the tale and has inflicted many film and TV versions on me as VHS and DVD.

Image via WikipediaI still await the definitive review from her but until I'm told what to think about it I must say I believe I enjoyed it and given that it's always a problem to cram a book into the limited time available for a film I think they did a good job.

Derbyshire looked nicely misty and atmospheric and the various stately homes acted their parts very convincingly. The change to the chronology, which I had been warned about, was far less jarring than I expected and not a problem for me although I'm still not sure it was actually warranted as it takes us straight into seeing Jane distraught when we don't know enough about her to care.

When I heard that neither of the main characters, iconic figures of English literature, were to be played by an English actor I certainly had reservations but, while I can't believe there aren't English actors capable of playing the parts, I did find them to be perfectly good in the roles. In fact I was very taken with Mia Wasikowska's Jane as she was very much the Jane of my own imagination.

I was far less sure about Michael Fassbender's Rochester and though he was perfectly adequate he didn't quite match up to my mental image of the man. For a start he clearly is a pretty good looking chap whereas the qualities of the original Rochester are far less obvious, at least in Jane's early acquaintanceship with him.

The whole "mad arsonist woman in the attic" part of the plot seemed somehow fairly lacking in intensity but that may just be a symptom of over-familiarity with the story. The other problem for me was the abrupt ending. While I would not expect to see the whole epilogue up there on the screen Rochester already seemed in good shape at their post inferno reunion. Indeed it would seem that prolonged exposure to intense fire and a building falling on him had just resulted in a bit of looking away syndrome and attack of beard growth. "Hello it's me again". The End.


I shouldn't complain too much though, as I enjoyed it a lot, loved Jane and still found it moving at times, especially the proposal.




The second film was Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, as you may have worked out from the title, and this was not such a problem as I have to confess to my shame that I have never read it or any Le Carré despite having three other of his works in my To Be Read heaps.

The cast is top notch and at the head of it is Gary Oldman's George Smiley. While Sir Obi Wan Kenobi is a very hard act to follow Oldman's Smiley is always excellent and compelling to watch. Most of the rest of the cast is also excellent and includes a cameo by Le Carré himself at one point. My one reservation is that of Kathy Burke's Connie not because it is badly acted I doubt Kathy Burke is capable of that, and not because of a lack of screen presence, I have always been disturbingly drawn to Ms Burke since the days of Waynetta Slob when she first came to my notice. No, it is simply that she is not how I imagined the character.

John le Carré at the Image via Wikipedia
The cinematography is good throughout and the muted colour pallette gives the whole thing a uniform period atmosphere and helps with the building mystery and menace. I can't help feeling that something prevented it from being totally convincing though, despite all the attention to the detail of the era. One thought was that the short scenes of the edit worked against the slow methodical nature of Smiley's work. It may have been a deliberate attempt to give it a more modern rhythm or it may just be that this is the way films are expected to be now with the perception that viewers these days have short attention spans. For me it worked contrary to the style of the main protagonist.

Once again, although I have a number of minor criticisms, I have to say that I really enjoyed it and would be happy to see more of the canon essayed by this team. It is particularly impressive that it was directed by someone (Tomas Alfredson) with only one other feature film to his name (the wonderful Let the Right One In).

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