Hi Dear Fellow Reading (and on Occasion Screen Adaptation) Lovers,
Today I will talk to you about "The Night Manager" by John le Carré the book and the recent mini series created by BBC. If you are like me and don't want any sort of details on a book you are reading or a movie you want to watch before you actually finish, then read no further. Otherwise, enjoy my thoughts "The Night Manager".
The book tells the story of a British night manager, Jonathan Pine, who works at a high end hotel in Cairo. It is there that he meets the beautiful, exotic and mysterious Sophie, an Egyptian lady, who is the mistress of Freddy Hamid, who, together with his brothers, is involved in a multitude of illegal and dirty affairs. Sophie approaches Jonathan and provides him for safe keeping some documents containing secret information on Freddy's affairs together with the "worst man in the world", Richard Onslow Roper - a professional arms seller. Trying to do the right thing, Jonathan informs the secret services, however they are unable to take action and moreover alert Freddy, who subsequently violently kills her.
Years later, trying to forget about Sophie, Jonathan works as a night manager at a high end hotel in the heart of the Alps, in Switzerland, when he finds himself one night face to face with Roper himself and his entire entourage, who came to stay at that same hotel for some days. It is under these circumstances that he meets Jed, who is described as being Roper's woman, and he inevitably and hopelessly falls in love with her untained freshness. It is now that he decides to contact the British Secret Service again and accepts Burr's offer to spy on Roper. Under the guidance of Burr, Jonathan changes his life dramatically, to create himself a valid background to infiltrate himself and subsequently be accepted in Roper's entourage.
Burr, together with his colleague in the British Ministry and his American friend in the Secret Services, run behind the entire operation, having to fight various attacks from Roper's supportes infiltrated in or affiliated to other departments within the Secret Services in both Great Britain and the United States.
Le Carré builds Jonathan's character as being the perfect candidate for an undercover spy: he is intelligent, handsome, has the ability of being very diplomatic and assertive when the situation requires, can hide his true thoughts and feelings from the ones around him while at the same time remaining a very close observer of the world and people around him, his army training provides him the necessary tools to be a good strategist and provides him the knowledge on weapons and warfare. But at the same time he has a flaw - women. He falls dangerously hard for the most unattainable women, that besides their intelligence, mystery, grace and elegance. However complicated the female object of his desires might be, his feelings run deep and are true - they fuel his drive to bring Roper down. It is this drive, complimented by Burr's dedication and resourcefulness, that fuel Burr's operation. But do not be mistaken, not every night manager at a five start hotel can be a spy, the unique character traits, and the past of Jonathan Pine make him a good spy.
And being a good actor, who knows how to portray his characters, makes Tom Hiddleston the perfect candidate for the part of Jonathan Pine. I remember seeing him as Loki and saying to myself - this guy, he can truly act. Seeing his subsequent movies, this conviction became certainty.
You can see him suffer for Sophie, fall in love for Jed, hating Roper, and liking Roper. Yes, liking Roper, that is the twist Le Carré brought to his book - Roper, who was the worst man in the world, was also very charismatic, intelligent, loved Jed, had a son whom he also loved, in a nutshell Roper had feelings too. Yes, he was killing people and fueling wars, but he was human and at the end of the day could bleed.
Hugh Laurie's "Dickie" Roper seems like the appropriate choice to be the Roper to Hiddleston's Pine. He needs no presentation, not after "House" and "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" and his books ("The Gun Seller" springs appropriately to mind) and his music, and is probably one of the few really actors who Hiddleston ca be equal to and by whom at times even eclipsed.
The mini series changed the time of the story - it is happening not in the '90s, but in our present day - and the ending is different as well - I believe each generation understands happy endings differently: Le Carré had a slightly darker view of the World after the Cold War, compared to the current creative team at BBC, who wanted to bring a happy end for the already skimming audience -. It emphasised more on some parts of the story (the war demonstration) and kept others more in the background (the intricate relationships within the "River House"). But I enjoyed immensely pregnant Olivia Colman as Angela Burr, she was amazing and even more bad-ass than the Leonard Burr in the book (and Leonard is the true bad-ass in the book) and Tom Hollander as gay Corky (even though Jonathan killing him in the move, as opposed to the book, is completely unexpected, and I still don't understand the relevance of the story as opposed to the other changes that did make sense).
Did you see the series? Did you read the books? What did you think of them?
Cheers,
Alex.
Snapchat alex-andreea.
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