All the publicity I've seen is about Judi Dench and she is, of course, very good. But for me this is Sophie Cookson's film. She has to carry the main story line and progress from innocent student to Russian spy and I think that she does it very well.
shareIt's both, no? Both are important, and I think Cookson has studied early Dench performances and tries to deliver lines the way she did in certain scenes. So Dench has more influence over the film than it might appear at first.
I don't see why the critics were so hard on the movie. We found it quite well done and that it poses an interesting question: would you have done what she did?