by John le Carré (novel) and David Farr (screenplay)
The British Broadcasting Company
Fans of Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie have breathlessly awaited the conclusion of The Night Manager, a mini-series that played in the USA on AMC and is available for purchase from iTunes. I watched it on a weekly basis but I recommend it as a lovely binge as smart, beautiful people do terrible things in weirdly attractive ways.
The Night Manager opens at a fancy hotel in Cairo during the Arab Spring. Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston), the night manager of the hotel, is quickly established: he’s extremely intelligent, extremely competent, cool under pressure, a decent human, and totally out of his depth. The first ten minutes or so is masterful in setting up all these details of his character by showing instead of telling in an economical manner. BTW, there is abundant Tom Hiddleston fan service on display in this series. There are other reasons to watch the series but I must say that the prettiness of The Hiddles didn’t hurt.
Pine is quickly drawn into the professional and personal life of Samira, the girlfriend of a very rich and very corrupt man named Freddie Hamid who seems to be dealing arms with another very rich, very corrupt man, Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). Faster than you can say “Fridging,” Pine is working undercover for British Intelligence, trying to take Roper down, under the direction of Angela Burr. Angela works with British Intelligence, and taking down Roper is her own pet project – one that her superiors do not support.
Other than The Hiddles, my favorite thing about this show is the amazing Olivia Coleman, who plays Angela Burr. She’s done tons of work before but somehow I never saw her in anything before this and I was duly floored. From her first scene, one has the impression that she showed up on set, viewed the considerable charisma and stage presence of The Hiddles and Hugh Laurie, sniffed, “AMATUERS” and just walked off with the show. Swaddled in sweaters, enormously pregnant, gloriously un-glamorous, Angela is compassionate, responsible, ruthless, smart, dysfunctional, obsessed, and a total badass.
A couple other acting notes: Tobias Menzies plays the British intelligence director who is always trying to undercut Angela’s operation, and he’s just as genially horrifying as he is in Outlander. No one will be surprised that Hugh Laurie is sublime. Really, the level of acting throughout is incredible – this is the kind of series in which actors must be able to have loud convincing breakdowns, but they must also be able to convey volumes of information by barely moving their faces, and no one disappoints.
In the original novel, Colman’s character is male. Casting her as female not only means we get to have Olivia Coleman in the part, but it heightens the sense that she’s an underdog and it softens some of the sexism of the show. I regret to say that while Angela Burr is a glowingly feminist character, there is a lot of sexism in this series. There’s the aforementioned fridging, and Jed (Roper’s mistress, who Pine immediately falls for) is a damsel in distress/Femme Fatale (depending on your point of view) with the intelligence of a pickled herring (although she shows more intelligence as the series progresses). Jed has her own feelings, and the actress conveys them with great subtly and intensity, but she has very little agency – she’s both explicitly and implicitly a trophy. None of this is unusual for the spy genre but it’s still disappointing. Having a badass pregnant brilliant woman in charge of the entire intelligence operation doesn’t erase the sexist elements, but it’s an awfully nice consolation prize.
There’s a lot to unpack in this series aside from gender roles, and one is the way in which the overwhelmingly white cast both weakens and strengthens a story which is basically about colonialism. When we first meet Pine, he is meeting the world of Egypt on the terms of the Egyptians. He is learning Arabic, he celebrates President Mubarak’s resignation along with his Egyptian co-workers, and he becomes involved with an Egyptian woman. Once Pine enters the world of espionage, he enters a world of a new wave of colonialism. Everyone in Roper’s trusted circle is white with the exception of a Spanish man who Roper regards with some condescension. From this point on, there are ample Middle Eastern and Egyptian faces and supporting characters, but no developed personalities.
On the one hand, telling a story that involves the lives of people of color only from the viewpoint of white characters can be irresponsible and lazy and overdone. And yet, for this specific story, I thought that it worked, because the defining characteristic of Roper is that he does not see the people he deals arms to, or the people who will be killed by these arms, as people. He seems them as tools he can use to get money and power. The series doesn’t glamorize Roper and his lot, nor does it glamorize British Intelligence. Corruption and cruelty are displayed by any person who cannot empathize with the pain of another.
Both Angela and Pine, the least corrupt players in the game, began caring about stopping Roper only when they experienced a personal connection to the suffering he causes. They are also the only people with substantial relationships with people of color – Pine with one of his coworkers and with Samira, and Angela with three different coworkers who are loyal friends to her and whose talents are essential to her work. She clearly is closer to them than to anyone else on earth. Angela and Pine are ruthless and capable of violence and deception. What sets them apart from Roper is their ability to see people as people, instead of pawns, tools, customers, or background.
I can’t overstate how strongly I feel that we need more stories that not only include people of color, but that are told from their viewpoints. However, in this specific story, their very absence made a point about the callousness that can occur when we ignore each other’s humanity and see one another as faceless pawns to exploit. To me, the fact that the story is told from the viewpoint of white Europeans is glaring, and it doesn’t necessarily make the story bad or invalid, but it does warrant some examination and discussion given the overall lack of narratives that focus on the viewpoints of people of color.
I do have some questions.
- For such a smart guy, Roper sure is gullible. What’s up with that? Sloppy writing or a natural tendency towards hubris and overconfidence from a man who has become so successful that he’s lost his edge?
- My metaphorical hat is off to the costuming department. Roper, who is so very chill, is the only one to wear shorts. Jed wears flowing clothes that have a transparency to them so that she seems almost-but-not-quite naked even when her clothes are on, without that clothing necessarily being skimpy. Also she wears a lot of white and light colors and never, ever gets dirty, and if that doesn’t scream “RICH” I don’t know what does. If I wore white, I’d look filthy within minutes. Is staying clean her super power?
- On a similar note, I’ve become almost as obsessed with Tom Hiddleston’s shirts as with Tom Hiddleston himself. Do they look so good because they are tailored and very, very expensive? Or do they look so good because they are on The Hiddles? Please advise.
For a spy story, there are few twists and turns. There are also very few action scenes. The Night Manager has been compared a lot to James Bond movies, especially since Hiddleston is in the running to play Bond. Certainly there’s a touch of Bond to the gorgeous opening credits, the stunning scenery, and those perfectly tailored suits.
But this is more of a subversion of Bond movies. Pine’s entire job depends not on gadgets supplied by a well-funded, high tech organization, but on the meager resources he can glean from a tiny group that works out of a one-room office with a broken radiator. Pine does not have sex with women to use them; he falls in love with women because he has a serious obsession with damsels in distress (his attraction to Jed makes him act, at times, like an idiot – I spent half the episodes yelling, “Stop eye-fucking each other!”). Most of the intelligence is gleaned through paperwork and patience. There’s glamour in Pine’s undercover life, but he wages a battle of wits, not bullets and car chases.
I adored this series even though it made me incredibly tense. I loved the fact that I was at my most tense when two people were having a quiet and outwardly calm conversation. The people and the places are beautiful and the story is relevant and intense despite the lack of action and the lack of major twists. The ending was incredibly satisfying and Angela Burr is my hero for life. I just wish the series hadn’t resorted to sexist tropes in the case of Jed and Samira.
The Night Manager is available for streaming on Amazon, Google:Play, and iTunes.
You forgot to mention Tom Hollander – who plays Corky. He was amazing (not as pretty as Hiddles, but had incredible stage presence!). I particularly like what happened to Roper at the very end.
I wasn’t convinced by the ‘relationship’ between Pine and Jed, but it served its purpose. I totally agree with you about the sexism. And that Olivia Coleman is superb. She always is!
Great review! I highly recommend the BBC series over the American — hopefully the blu-rays will be the unedited-for-prudish-American-TV version. So frustrating that murders and violence are okay, but sexytimes aren’t.
I have another complaint — Pine had the worst poker face ever. I agree that Roper was gullible, but, geez, Pine . . . it’s a wonder he wasn’t busted earlier. Also, where is the $300M??
Re colonialism: remember that this was based on a book written in the 60s. Yes, it’s been updated–kinda sorta, but the basic premise is still the same.
Re Olivia Colman: watch Broadchurch. It’s the first thing I ever saw her in & she is ah-mazing. I can’t recommend it highly enough. One caveat though: it can be a very tough watch, emotionally, b/c it deals with the death of a child (that isn’t a spoiler, it’s how the show opens).
“On a similar note, I’ve become almost as obsessed with Tom Hiddleston’s shirts as with Tom Hiddleston himself. Do they look so good because they are tailored and very, very expensive? Or do they look so good because they are on The Hiddles? Please advise.”
I volunteer to conduct as much research as necessary to answer this very important question.
Great review, BTW. I completely agree about the lack of twists and turns. I had even warned my hubby to be prepared for LeCarre’s usual antics and then it turned out quite straightforward after all. I did love the ending and I quite agree about Olivia Colman – she was simply magnificent.
I first saw Olivia Colman in Hot Fuzz, playing a comic character, so it was interesting to see her in Broadchurch. She can basically play any type of role, and do it well.
I can see how some viewers would perceive the female characters (with the exception of the actually-pregnant always amazing Olivia) as existing only to be damsels in distress. I had the same thought while watching the series, but now that it’s been a bit I realize that they are, in a way, presented as ciphers on purpose, especially Sophie/Samira. Pine doesn’t actually know Sophie, so in the end is he really fighting to avenge her or just the idea or her? His weakness for damsels in distress is also highlighted in this way. I also was impressed by the Elizabeth Debicki’s portrayal of Jed, the viewer goes from thinking she is just a piece of fluff, new model gf for Roper and slowly unpeeling that she, too, has realized that her fairy tale life is based on death and violence. She shows geniune love toward Roper’s son, and the scene where Pine spies on her on the phone shows a lot of her character. There is an interview on the BBC where the actors say part of the pull of the characters to each other is because their lives are both built on lies and deceptions. That said, I would have liked a little more of what Jed thinks, but perhaps we are only supposed to see her through the male gaze, and in the end showing how Roper underestimates her because she’s beautiful.
Although I agree there is some sexism present in the series, I disagree with some of this review and have endless feminism-related thoughts but far too many to put in a comment, especially if I want to express my love for Olivia. I’ve been a fan since Green Wing (2004 – they need to bring it back) and I must admit, as much as I loved her then, I never imagined her career would skyrocket the way it has, but she deserves it so much. I highly recommend the recent Channel 4 series Flowers. As Lammie said, she can pretty much play anything.
I forgot that Coleman was in Hot Fuzz! I want to watch both Broadchurch and TNM, but I know I really need to be in the right frame of mind for those kinds of dramas.
BTW, there was a great April Fool’s Joke where The Daily Mail announced that Coleman had been selected as the new Bond. Here’s the link (if it goes through ok):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3518227/Now-S-real-Bond-girl-O-O-Olivia-Coleman-lined-play-007-Broadchurch-star-set-make-history-taking-Daniel-Craig-movie.html
And if pswap57’s research is successful, I doubt we’ll ever hear from her again as she’ll have expired from bliss. May she RIP. 🙂
I’m assuming it’s a combination of things that make the Hiddles’ shirts look so nice. It’s likely the expense and fit, but also being well cared for. I had a french teacher in high school whose shirts always looked so great, and she once confessed that they were off-the-rack from discount places and Target but that she had them professionally dry cleaned.
Loved TNM and also wonder what happened to the $300 million.
As an updated Le Carre miniseries, I thought TNM was very well done indeed. Laurie’s and Hiddleston’s acting was top notch. Watching those two circle each other was like watching a cobra and a mongoose; such a hypnotic, weaving dance towards death.
The cinematography was beautiful. Loved the continual juxtaposition of natural versus man-made objects throughout; that shot of a line of beetles and then, a little later in the episode (was it the fifth?), a mirrored shot of a line of army jeeps shown in an aerial view, was one of my faves. And, oh, the irony of Hiddleston’s character assuming the name of trees. What will his next one be, do you think? Reggie Ash? Julian Oleander? Michael Yew? Maybe he’ll be obvious and go with Frank Wood?
I loved that the seductive, glamorous patina of Roper’s world was slowly stripped away in both the cinematography and the storyline, until the underlying ugliness of the monsters at work was undeniable. Really nice how the story tightened to its claustrophobic, noir-ish conclusion as Roper met his just desserts…and then opened up again with the sky being the limit for Jonathan Pine.
I was naughtily thrilled that Hiddleston’s man-with-many-false-names villain played and won the long con, ruthlessly using everyone is sight and walking away free and clear with 300 million (minus whatever he gave to his Egyptian rebel friends for their aid). As he repeated back to Roper (sic), “You have to commit.” And commit he did. Bravo, Mr. Whatever The Hell Your Name Really Is. Cherry on the top was that Pine, as the best con men do, left his marks thinking they’ve been given/achieved exactly whatever it was they wanted. Special shout out to Pine’s final scene with Jed; the way Hiddleston’s eyes go cold and he shuts off the sex appeal like flicking a switch as they’re parting is a cold, cold brush off. In that instance, you see the “real” Pine. Fantastic acting.
The topic of sexism wasn’t an issue for me, mainly because the story is about evil men doing evil things…so, yeah, not expecting even as much representation as we got. I appreciated greatly that the show’s director was a woman (Susanne Bier), and thought that the series was way more seductive and sexy than it would have been if the director would have been male (Ron D Moore’s Outlander for comparison, anyone?). Casting a very pregnant Olivia Coleman in the role of Angela Burr was also a risky move in the male-dominated world of tv/spywork, so bravo to Bier and company for that. And Jed’s character was modernized and made much stronger than her counterpart in the book.
Also, with all the current talk of diversity on SBTB, it was fun to see that Adeel Akhtar’s Rob Singhal was the one who shut down Tobias Menzies aka Geoffrey Dromgoole (with a name like that, you know he’s a dick) and co’s UK shenanigans. And Pine wouldn’t have triumphed without his Egyptian contacts seen in the first episode, so that was a nice inclusion.
I also give TNM a B+. The ending felt a bit rushed. The last episode deviated in the rest of the series’s look, and felt more like typical made-for-tv movie fare. Overall, however, it was wonderful to be seduced by the yummy Jonathan Pine.
I’d forgotten about Green Wing(she played a pregnant woman in that one too!).
Le Carre had a cameo appearance as the gent in the fish restaurant – the one that Pine apologized to.
As a European living in the UK, I’m confused by the way you classify a Spanish man as being “of colour”. That’s just white here. Racism in Europe is more about ethnicity and religion than the shade of your skin.
If you loved Olivia Colman in this, I agree with @hng23 in strongly recommending Broadchurch season 1. Season 2 wasn’t nearly as good, and I felt like it kind of cheapened how perfect the first season was, but season 1 was the best television I’ve seen in years.
If you want a good movie (or book!) by Le Carre that looks at the lasting effects of colonialism, I highly recommend The Constant Gardener. The two main characters are white, but the location shooting in Kenya was both beautiful and enlightening. And there are twists and turns a-plenty.
Olivia Colman plays a funny part in a movie that’s out now, The Lobster. It’s a very strange movie, so if you’re not into that, you might want to pass. But Olivia Colman’s character made me laugh more than any other.
I thought it was interesting the way they set Jed up and then the way she evolved. To me, it was clear she wasn’t really happy as Roper’s mistress. She was playing a much of a part as Pine was. But I liked the way the director subverted our expectations of the character. We first see her bathing and trying on lingerie. That’s what we’d expect of a sexy, Bond-girl type. And her interactions with Roper’s son were sad b/c she was clearly thinking of her own child. But in her own way, she was also spying on Roper and trying to take him down- Pine/Simon Elder/Richard Oak/Bobby Juniper – and that’s what I think threw them together and attracted them to each other amidst all the secrecy and subterfuge.
I’ve loved the many recent adaptations of Le Carre’s work, including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and I hope they keep adapting more of his “issues” books while the interest is high.
I think LeCarre’s work is based on what is going on at the specific time during which he was writing. Some eras were more overtly sexist/racist/colonial and his work does seem to reflect that. Having lived in a British colony as a child, much of his work rings true for that. In addition, whether Constant Gardener was based on fact or not, something very similar did happen in Africa with one of the big companies and their drug trials. I have a friend who was involved in attempting to stop it and the stories are scary. Colonialism is alive and well, still.
How did Pine he to be such a rough guy? We have no background on his past! Was he in the military?
Started out reasonably well with w certain predictably.
TH has a slightly unemotional way that I found a bit tryhard to be cool
Laurie was good but also a bit tryhard
Jed quite beautiful
The Colonel frightening.
The whole plot reminded me of something the Americans would do if they wanted to be English
Frankly, I was a bit bored by it’s “let’s get a bit exited”
The Poms usually are better than this
The Danish/ Swedish far more subtle with their approach