The Pigeon Tunnel, 2023.
Directed by Errol Morris.
SYNOPSIS:
Spans six decades as le Carré gives his final and most personal interview, interrupted with rare archival footage and dramatic anecdotes. It is set against the stormy Cold War backdrop that extends into the present day.
John le Carré is one of Britain’s best-regarded novelists and perhaps the premier spy novelist of the 20th Century with well-loved works including The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Constant Gardner, many of his best-known novels turning into successful film and television productions. While le Carré may have sadly passed away aged 89 in 2020, director Errol Morris has released a new film, The Pigeon Tunnel which splices the author’s final interview with segments from his autobiography of the same name.
Le Carré, real name David Cornwell, is the sole interviewee here, giving a glimpse behind the curtain of a reclusive man whose work is perhaps better known than the author behind it. He discusses his tumultuous upbringing, his father a swindler hopping from scam to scam, spending time behind bars and his mother leaving when he was 5. He discusses how many of his own life experiences later made it into his works, especially the Smiley novels and A Perfect Spy. With a focus on his childhood, we get a look at his early works with footage from some of the adaptations most notably the Alec Guinness TV versions of the Smiley novels and Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
While his life may not have had the most upbeat of starts with a difficult relationship with both parents, there is a rye humour underpinning the film with a devilish smile ending many anecdotes. This is an eye-opening look at how the Circus and Secret Service depicted in his novels differ from the one he worked for prior to his career as a writer. It’s clear real-world events have often found their way into his work from the building of The Berlin Wall to Kim Philby’s defection and the events surrounding that.
In spite of his lengthy career this is a sprightly 90 minutes but covers a lot of ground; it cleverly balances his work and life showing how intertwined the two are and how writing brought him a sense of solace and calm that he kept onto until the end. Morris keeps this from feeling pedestrian with reconstructions of some of the moments depicted in the book and back and forth with le Carré making it feel more conversational rather than simply a run-through of the author’s life.
The Pigeon Tunnel is an intriguing glimpse at a private individual. It is often a humorous look at a life that clearly influenced many of his best-loved works and we get a feel for his process and the importance of writing in his everyday life. The clever direction and back and forth keep this from feeling run of the mill and it does justice to its subject matter and is likely to shed new light on several areas for its audience when it drops on Apple TV+.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Connor
