Barley Blair is not a Service man: he is a small-time publisher, a self-destructive soul whose only loves are whisky and jazz. But it was Barley who, one drunken night at a dacha in Peredelkino during the Moscow Book Fair, was befriended by a high-ranking Soviet scientist who could be the greatest asset to the West since perestroika began, and made a promise.
Le Carré's end-of-Cold-War novel gets an intricate Stoppardian adaptation, with Connery and Pfeiffer delivering a message of friendship at the end of a time of brutal conflict. If it seems naïve now, le Carré would respond that that is precisely the opportunity we squandered.
Nominated for five awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Actress (Michelle Pfeiffer)
'This may be the most complex characters Connery has ever played, and without question it's one of his richest performances. Connery shows the melancholy behind Barley's pickled charm, all the wasted years and unkept promises.'
'Pfeiffer, who gets more subtle and incisive with each film, is incandescent as Katya.'
