Jack Kroll

“In the age of mega-jitters, the spy seems to have replaced the cowboy as our favorite pop protagonist. At once romantic and grubby, daring and sneaky, champion and chiseler, the agent--single, double or multiple--embodies with disquieting perfection an age of ambiguity. The Little Drummer Girl presents us with a brilliant variation on this theme…. The book, with is probing of the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum, managed to anger proponents of both sides and the faithful screen adaptation… will not assuage that anger. Nor will that disquiet be relieved by the vivid and powerful performance of Diane Keaton, who as Charlie becomes the perfect embodiment of le Carré's idea of the spy as tool, as tabula rasa, as a refillable bottle of beliefs, as the ultimate actor.

“Keaton's special gifts have never been better used than in her portrayal of Charlie, the stage actress and self-styled radical who latches on to causes with the same fierce but hollow passion with which she seizes lovers….

“…. [L]ike the novel, the film succeds in placing the moral claims of both Israelis and Palestinians within the broader question of commitment itself. Kurtz wants to use Charlie because "she is bright, creative, underused, romantic--and a liar." The terrifying accuracy of his analysis is borne out by Charlie herself. She becomes a perverse Galatea of our explosive time, manipulated by Pygmalions on both sides, planting bombs and making love with an exultant desperation that makes her an unforgettable character. In Charlie the double agent embodies the ambiguous blend of loyalty and betrayal that characterizes so many--perhaps most--human actions and relations.

“This is a part that Diane Keaton was born to play. With her entrancing and unsettling sense of the absurdity of the actor, she is devastating in her creation of a woman fiercely searching for a reality beyond role playing. Trapped in one of her many betrayals, her victim asks her who she is. Keaton's face--as she croaks her anguished answer: "Nothing, I'm nothing"--won't be easily forgotten….”

Jack Kroll
Newsweek, October 15, 1984