The Little Drummer Girl

[johncorrigan]

Anyway, hopefully they've created the knot and will now start to unravel it in front of my very eyes...maybe!

Well that seems to be happening for me - the know is unravelling a bit. Really enjoyed the last couple of episodes as we head towards the end of the affair next week - some very fine performances and great to see Charles Dance do his thing.

[Belgrove]

I ended up watching this out of a sense of duty rather than enjoyment. The payoff simply was not worth the long wait. I still don't understand Charlie's motivation, and didn't care about the fate of any of the characters. Spielberg's Munich did a much better job of portraying Mossad. Geoffrey Rush's portrayal in that film as the handler exuded charm, threat and deep psychological understanding of his charges and adversaries in just a few scenes - I did not get any of that from the lugubrious character played by Michael Shannon.

[LMcD]

I ended up watching this out of a sense of duty rather than enjoyment. The payoff simply was not worth the long wait. I still don't understand Charlie's motivation, and didn't care about the fate of any of the characters. Spielberg's Munich did a much better job of portraying Mossad. Geoffrey Rush's portrayal in that film as the handler exuded charm, threat and deep psychological understanding of his charges and adversaries in just a few scenes - I did not get any of that from the lugubrious character played by Michael Shannon.

Reading this makes me glad I stopped watching after episode 2! Whether or not I care about the characters is a really important issue for me, which is why I gave up on 'The Split' after 1 episode even though it starred Nicoia Walker.

[Richard Barrett]

What impressed me most of all was the performance by Florence Pugh, but I found the ending totally unconvincing (and, I gather, sweetened into a potential happy ending where the Le Carré novel does no such thing).

[Dave2002]

I found it incomprehensible and fairly pointless - or at least meandering - there may have been some points, but not put across particularly well. Do I wish I'd followed LMcD's example? Not sure. If I read the book I could simply be compounding the bewilderment - or at least getting marginal extra benefit. Maybe I'll add it to my reading list - about half way down!

[vinteuil]

.

... we watched to the end, also 'out of a sense of duty rather than for any enjoyment'. I thought it was awful; Mme v who has read the book agrees.

The photography was from time to time stylish, but the plot was dire and implausible beyond words, and the characters without exception uninvolving. There was no chemistry between any of the actors; the sullen Swedish hunk wooden beyond parody, the Israeli spymaster a charisma-free zone not likely to win any converts to his cause, the key requirement of such a post, and even dear Chas: Dance walking thro' the whole mess as a one-dimensional bellicose caricature. The most one could say for the 'actress' was that she tried hard to be a plausible actress. And the dialogue! a combination of the hackneyed and the totally unbelievable. People just don't talk like that.

No, we didn't really like it very much....


.

[Richard Tarleton]

I went right off it in the last 2 episodes, having received it enthusiastically to start with. I think it's a terrific book, he's a great writer, but the dramatisation has to stand on its own merits and I have to agree that this one didn't.

[Richard Barrett]

I went right off it in the last 2 episodes, having received it enthusiastically to start with. I think it's a terrific book, he's a great writer, but the dramatisation has to stand on its own merits and I have to agree that this one didn't.

Watching it made me want to read the book because then at least I ought to be able to work out why it was thought worth making a screenplay out of. Would I be right in thinking the ending of the TV series is a somewhat sanitised version?

[Richard Tarleton]

Watching it made me want to read the book because then at least I ought to be able to work out why it was thought worth making a screenplay out of. Would I be right in thinking the ending of the TV series is a somewhat sanitised version?

Actually it was quite a literal transliteration [is that right? ed.] except that I think the denouement happened in Switzerland - some time since I read it. And Charlie goes back to her actors' group, rather than to a - what was it, exactly? A more emotionally satisfactory ending, with Gadi/Joseph in the audience (some time since I last read it). I think the Charles Dance character is new. It's just that it was so....leaden. There is so much in the book which takes place in Charlie's head....it happens with all JLC dramatisations, you lose the sense of enjoying the savour of all that lovely prose, with characters leaping off the page.

[Petrushka]

Actually it was quite a literal transliteration [is that right? ed.] except that I think the denouement happened in Switzerland - some time since I read it. And Charlie goes back to her actors' group, rather than to a - what was it, exactly? A more emotionally satisfactory ending, with Gadi/Joseph in the audience (some time since I last read it). I think the Charles Dance character is new. It's just that it was so....leaden. There is so much in the book which takes place in Charlie's head....it happens with all JLC dramatisations, you lose the sense of enjoying the savour of all that lovely prose, with characters leaping off the page.

Yes, I'd go long with this, especially about JlC's prose which alone makes a second read even more satisfying than the first. Television's limitations were somewhat exposed here. Afraid I found Martin Shannon an unconvincing, wooden actor, a feeling heightened by watching with subtitles. Florence Pugh, on the other hand, was excellent, rather like Guinness as Smiley, didn't seem to be acting at all. I hope we see more of her.

[kernelbogey]

I felt there wa something odd about this film. I wonder - cannot be sure - whether 1979 wasn't quite accurately portrayed....

I think my first instinct was right. I had paused after watching three episodes, and returning to it last night on iPlayer found I was completely uninterested in the fate of any of the characters. (Although Florence Pugh is very watchable, IMHO.) And extraordinarily opaque plotting. So I agree with posts above and don't think I'll watch the rest.

[Anastasius]

Have I been watching the same series ? I thought it was spellbinding. Superbly acted, directed....flawless.

[jayne lee wilson]

I'd really love to know what Petrushka thinks about it now... IIRC he's our resident Le Carré enthusiast and savant...?

[Dave2002]

I'd really love to know what Petrushka thinks about it now... IIRC he's our resident Le Carré enthusiast and savant...?

Did you miss his post - number 40? Or are you looking for an even more recent opinion?

[Dave2002]

Have I been watching the same series ? I thought it was spellbinding. Superbly acted, directed....flawless.

Have you read the book? If you have, then maybe you had a different take on it.