Written as a novel and for the screen by Tom Rob Smith, who somehow managed to insist on re-editing the series himself - the editor in question, Victoria Boydell, assures us he was quite an odious character, but concedes that some of his changes were for the better.
A lost, gay man (Ben Whishaw) bumps into an enigmatic runner. They become lovers, but the latter is murdered, and there's a scandal involving an unlikely sex attic. Then some people pretend to be his parents before we meet his real parents (a chilly Rampling), and Jim Broadbent, an old friend, reveals himself also to once have been MI6.
Photographed by Laurie Rose.
I kept thinking of William Boyd - spies, Charlotte Rampling (Restless), London, much sight of River Thames ('Ordinary Thunderstorms'), changing identities. A sort of Gay Spy City, then.
Funny we'd been talking about the famous rain patterns on windows emulating tears in In Cold Blood (Conrad Hall) and There's Always Tomorrow (Russell Metty) and another one pops up here on Jim Broadbent and Whishaw.
It's rather a cold affair, populated by unlikable characters and with hardly a trace of humour. Great performance from Mark Gatiss, also the sinister escort Riccardo Scamarcio (Master of None). That scene where the cameras rotate around he and Whishaw to the almost ambient music of Keefus Clancia and David Holmes is the highlight. And Harriet Walter, James Fox, Clarke Peters. Whilst the intimate filming style has its moments it is - for me - too much in close up.
Nice car though - a Jensen CV-8.
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