The film version, produced in (1988), was written and directed by James Dearden. It stars Ben Kingsley, Charles Dance and Helen Mirren.

The novel is set in an island which is an outpost of the Ottoman Empire in 1908. Basil Pascali is a spy who reports regularly to İstanbul on the activities of the local people. He expects to be found out at any moment. When an English archaeologist arrives on the island, Pascali is suspicious of him, and the archaeologist's involvement with the woman Pascali loves creates further tensions.