MovieChat Forums > A Perfect Spy (1987) Discussion > Ricky, Axel, + Magnus

Ricky, Axel, + Magnus

posted 14 years ago by yj270
4 replies | jump to latest

Between the 3, Magnus is the doomed one, unable to safely lower his facade.

Ricky goes into a con, he pulls off a scam, but once exposed, he pays the price, whether at Wormwood Scrubs, Holloway Prison, or elsewhere, then he moves on, and is reborn again.

Axel plays his cards extremely well, and knows when it's time to fold. But his concern for Pym's well-being falls on deaf ears.

Pym's game is the most dangerous, and becomes fatal, because he tries to be all things to all people. When the inevitable truth closes in on Pym, as he unmasks himself, he shatters his own visage.

To be an effective double-agent, an effective traitor, one must be full of love for someone, something, and likewise full of hatred for another. Magnus Pym's Achilles' heel was that he was lacking in this quality.

[–] fanaticita 14 years ago

So why is it called A Perfect Spy? Was the perfect spy Axel?

[–] yj270 14 years ago

Yes, literally, Axel is the perfect one, because he came out looking the best, by the end of this tale. But he did try to get 'Sir Magnus' to drop the spy biz, and retire in Czechoslovakia.

Pym was A Perfect Spy, in another sense, but perfection at the cost of one's life, and its aftermath, make it 'perfect' in only the narrowest of sense.

Sometimes, I thought Magnus Pym was a perfect fool.

[–] Miarse 13 years ago

Magnus Pym didn't really exist, except as a vehicle for other people's treachery, desires, and failings.

[–] Squeeth2 13 years ago

A perfect definition of the middle class.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.