Charlotte Gray (2001)
Country: GB/AUS/GER
Technical: col 121m
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon, Rupert Penry-Jones
Synopsis:
Fluent in French, eager to do her bit and anxious to trace her missing pilot lover, our doughty heroine parachutes into Vichy-controlled France and does her utmost to save two Jewish boys from deportation.
Review:
Quite apart from the preposterous assumption that lover will have been shot down in the same part of France, this seriously intended meditation/literalisation of how war makes us different people loses all credibility the minute 'Dominique' lands and everyone but the Bosch speaks English. There is a touch of politicising about communist maquisards being betrayed by Whitehall, and lots of emoting about the plight of the Jewish children, but, like Chocolat, this is all an frills and no substance revisiting of very familiar territory. The breathtaking opening shot of lavender fields, and the similar aerial sweep around a train crossing a Scottish viaduct that follows it, are in every sense the high point of the film.
Country: GB/AUS/GER
Technical: col 121m
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon, Rupert Penry-Jones
Synopsis:
Fluent in French, eager to do her bit and anxious to trace her missing pilot lover, our doughty heroine parachutes into Vichy-controlled France and does her utmost to save two Jewish boys from deportation.
Review:
Quite apart from the preposterous assumption that lover will have been shot down in the same part of France, this seriously intended meditation/literalisation of how war makes us different people loses all credibility the minute 'Dominique' lands and everyone but the Bosch speaks English. There is a touch of politicising about communist maquisards being betrayed by Whitehall, and lots of emoting about the plight of the Jewish children, but, like Chocolat, this is all an frills and no substance revisiting of very familiar territory. The breathtaking opening shot of lavender fields, and the similar aerial sweep around a train crossing a Scottish viaduct that follows it, are in every sense the high point of the film.
Country: GB/AUS/GER
Technical: col 121m
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon, Rupert Penry-Jones
Synopsis:
Fluent in French, eager to do her bit and anxious to trace her missing pilot lover, our doughty heroine parachutes into Vichy-controlled France and does her utmost to save two Jewish boys from deportation.
Review:
Quite apart from the preposterous assumption that lover will have been shot down in the same part of France, this seriously intended meditation/literalisation of how war makes us different people loses all credibility the minute 'Dominique' lands and everyone but the Bosch speaks English. There is a touch of politicising about communist maquisards being betrayed by Whitehall, and lots of emoting about the plight of the Jewish children, but, like Chocolat, this is all an frills and no substance revisiting of very familiar territory. The breathtaking opening shot of lavender fields, and the similar aerial sweep around a train crossing a Scottish viaduct that follows it, are in every sense the high point of the film.