Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.
Acting
Connery's vulnerability, Pfeiffer's guarded warmth—chemistry that defies the genre
Cinematography
Leni Riefenstahl's cinematographer captures USSR's gray grandeur
Writing
Le Carré's dialogue: spies who actually read books and have souls
Director
Fred Schepisi
Sean Connery
Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott Blair
Michelle Pfeiffer
Katya Orlova
Roy Scheider
Russell
James Fox
Ned
John Mahoney
Brady
Michael Kitchen
Clive
J.T. Walsh
Colonel Quinn
Ken Russell
Walter
David Threlfall
Wicklow
Klaus Maria Brandauer
Dante
Mac McDonald
Bob
Nicholas Woodeson
Niki Landau
Martin Clunes
Brock
Ian McNeice
Merrydew
Colin Stinton
Henziger
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
US
