Mr. Oldman's emphasis is on self-containment, but what his Smiley seems to contain is all the wisdom of a blighted world.

WSJ: Young Adult | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | Nervy 'Young Adult' Dazzles by the Book | Film Review by Joe Morgenstern

Here, his frame is clear, lucid, and calm, and he is working with an actress who can draw fury out of extreme elegance and self-containment.

NEWYORKER: The Piano Teacher

The second is the illusion of national self-containment, the belief that, since the Norman Conquest, English experience has unfolded within its own unique parameters, separating it radically from the continent.

ECONOMIST: British history