|
CHARLOTTE GRAY Send This Review to a Friend
Cate Blanchett has a plum role as World War II secret operative Charlotte Gray, an adventurous woman from Scotland who is meticulously trained and sent into occupied France to aid resistance to the Nazis and their French collaborators. The tale is based on the popular novel by Sebastian Faulks, and while Jeremy Brock's screenplay can't fully capture the book, the result under Gillian Armstrong's direction works as an engrossing and often exciting war drama. It isn't a great film, but one well worth seeing, especially for Blanchett's performance that is very different from what we have seen her do previously. It's no secret that she is also gorgeous.
The fictional but well-grounded story also highlights an example of the heroic role many women played during World War II and that provides an added edge of fascination. Not everything is always easy to believe, but overall 'Charlotte Gray" is a good yarn. Billy Crudup has an acting stretch as a French member of the resistance for whom Charlotte develops an attraction. Rupert Penry-Jones is handsome and appealing as the RAF flier with whom Charlotte falls in love and whose being shot down in France provides added motivation for her assignment in the hope that she can find him. Michael Gambon, dependable as always, adds substance and authenticity as a French Jew who stubbornly refuses to kowtow to the Nazis despite the danger he faces.
"Charlotte Gray" takes us once again into the period of Nazi persecutions, the shadowy world of spies, underground missions and danger of exposure by treacherous collaborators. Despite some far-fetched moments, the film is compelling and at certain times touching. A Warner Brothers release.
|