Today’s quick review: A Dandy in Aspic. Alexander Eberlin (Laurence Harvey) leads two lives: one as a peevish British intelligence agent, the other as a Soviet mole and assassin. His two lives collide when the British send him to Berlin in search of Krasnevin, his own Russian alter ego. Faced with an impossible situation, Eberlin must find a way to mislead Gatiss (Tom Courtenay), his partner for the mission, and throw the Brits off his trail.
A Dandy in Aspic is a spy thriller about a Soviet double agent on the hunt for himself. A Dandy in Aspic has a clever premise that puts pressure on its main character from every direction. But in spite of a strong setup, intriguing twists, and a talented cast, the film is missing the sense of pathos it needs to make it all worthwhile. Without a reason to care for Eberlin, A Dandy in Aspic ends up being a bitter drama with little emotional payoff.
A Dandy in Aspic’s weak link is its characters, beginning with Eberlin himself. He works well enough on paper: a cold-hearted double agent who will stop at nothing to maintain his cover. But he works poorly as a protagonist. He is irritable, amoral, and unsympathetic, giving the audience precious little to cling to. The problem is compounded by Gatiss, who throws off the balance of the movie by being every bit as cold and judgmental as Eberlin.
The result is a movie that has almost all of the right pieces but fails to assemble them correctly. With either a more sympathetic version of Eberlin or a better foil for him than Gatiss, A Dandy in Aspic’s story could have shone. As it stands, the movie works better as an intellectual exercise than a proper drama. It still gets enough right to be worth a shot for curious viewers, but it is a step down from some of the better films in the genre.
For a classic spy thriller that handles a similarly bleak tone with more tact, try The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. For a Cold War thriller with a similarly elaborate plot and a better main character, try The Ipcress File or Funeral in Berlin. For a modern action thriller about a suspected Russian mole, check out Salt.
6.2 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 for a promising setup hurt by an unlikable lead.