Our Kind of Traitor (2016)
Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on July 4, 2016 @ tonymacklin.net.
Has John le Carre been feminized or just commercialized?
The last two movies from his novels have been directed by women. Susanne Bier directed The Night Manager (a 6-episode Mini-Series on BBC-TV), and Susanna White directed Our Kind of Traitor.
The two Susanns (Susanne and Susanna) dominate le Carre.
Both are excellent with actors. Bier got terrific performances from Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Olivia Colman in The Night Manager. And White has gotten wonderful performances from Stellan Skarsgard and Ewan McGregor in Our Kind of Traitor.
But Bier's film is distended (it probably should be four episodes), and lacks immediacy. And White's film has problems.
Both directors use shots of distant picturesque locales to give their films scope.
But both directors and their screenwriters change the vision of le Carre. David Farr in The Night Manager and Hossein Amini in Our Kind of Traitor make their endings different from what le Carre intended. The screenwriters tack on upbeat conclusions. Nice for entertainment, but bad for reality.
Has le Carre been relegated to mere cameo appearances in films of his work? He's a diner in
In his novels le Carre's vision is foreboding and wry. Losses are many, failure is rampant, and corruption is interminable. Honor is overwhelmed by dishonor.
There is little - if any - justice in le Carre's books, but the films add upbeat justice.
Our Kind of Traitor is the story of Perry (Ewan McGregor) an academic on a holiday in Marrakech with wife Gail (Naomie Harris) for the tenth anniversary of their marriage. They are trying to rekindle their relationship. In the novel they aren't married, but screenwriter brings in the conformity of marriage - maybe to comfort the audience.
Gail is a barrister. Ironically Amini and White diminish her role in the film. Gail leaves Perry in a restaurant and goes to do work and get away. Perry then meets Dimi (Stellan Skarsgard), a Russian who is partying with a boozing bunch of his fellow countrymen. After withstanding Dimi's assault of good will, Perry finally joins them for a drink. In the book Dimi and Perry meet on a tennis court. But I guess that's not rowdy enough.
Perry and Gail get involved with Dimi, who wants to get his wife and five children to England, because he and they are in danger of being killed. He is the major money-launderer for the Russian mob. He is in possession of material that shows the mob and vulture capitals in England are about to create a bank that will enrich them at the cost of national financial security.
He gives Perry some info to pass on to MI6 to try to convince them to make a deal to give his family refuge. Perry is completely out of his element; however, becomes a shaky but willing middleman.
Perry meets with Hector (Damian Lewis), a MI6 handler, who has a personal grudge with politician Aubrey Longrigg (Jeremy Northam) and wants to expose him as one of the leaders of the corrupt deal.
It all leads to intrigue and dread with Perry, Gail, and Dimi trying to do good against shadowy, lethal forces.
The best quality in the film is the acting. Ewan McGregor looks better than he ever has before, and he effectively captures the uncertain will of Perry. But the major reason for seeing the film may be the tour de force performance by Stellan Skarsgard. As Dimi, Skarsgard is part bear and part big playful dog. He's powerful, but insecure. A whirling dervish of vulnerability.
The biggest flaw in the film is how director White demeans le Carre's language and vision. She drowns everything in music (by Marcelo Zarvos). Almost every scene - including those with dialogue - is awash in music. There's music on the tennis court, in the subway, music in the air, music on the ground. Our Kind of Traitor is a movie reeking with the perfume of music.
And, in the film, le Carre's vision is made conventional. Perhaps a line that best sums up the difference between film and book is when Perry thinks, "And there was no explosion." Of course, in the film, there is an explosion.
An explosion, an upbeat ending, and music, music, music.
Our Kind of Traitor replaces the book's stings with the film's melodious strings.
That's not le Carre.