Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy | Stockholm Film Festival

Tomas Alfredson’s international debut is a classic spy thriller, based on John le Carré’s 1974 novel by the same name. Unfolding in early 1970’s Europe, we follow Smiley—a former intelligence operative who has been secretly rehired by his former employer to track down a suspected spy in the British secret intelligence services. Smiley is haunted by an ambiguous past, involving a female Russian spy. In the present he is disturbed by the unpleasant task of investigating his former colleagues. Together with his assistant Guillam, he navigates the murky waters of cold war Europe—a place where enemies and friends are indistinguishable.

Alfredson stays true to his trademarks: a slow pace and melancholic aesthetics. His particular visuals accentuate the volatility and vulnerability of human existence—whether it is seen through the eyes of a child in a Stockholm suburb, or through those of a disillusioned secret agent with his best days behind him.