Charlotte Gray (2001)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Gillian Armstrong

Writers:

Sebastian Faulks (novel)
Jeremy Brock (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 February 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller | War

Tagline:

The story of an ordinary woman in an extraordinary time.

Plot:

A young Scottish woman joins the French Resistance during World War II to rescue her Royal Air Force boyfriend who is lost in France.

Plot Keywords:

French Resistance | French | Scottish | France | First Aid Nursing Yeomanry

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Cate Blanchett	...	Charlotte Gray
James Fleet	...	Richard Cannerly
Abigail Cruttenden	...	Daisy
Charlotte McDougall	...	Sally
Rupert Penry-Jones	...	Peter Gregory (as Rupert Penry Jones)
Robert Hands	...	Borowski
Tom Goodman-Hill	...	Business Man at Party
Michael Fitzgerald	...	Business Man at Party
Hugh Ross	...	Psychiatrist
Martin Oldfield	...	Assault Course Instructor
Nicholas Farrell	...	Mr. Jackson
Mike Burnside	...	Morse Code Instructor
Damian Myerscough	...	Gun Instructor
Miranda Bell	...	Female Instructor
Angus Wright	...	Agent

Also Known As:

Die Liebe der Charlotte Gray (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some war related violence, sensuality and brief strong language.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

UK | Australia | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | Canada:A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

Ecosse Films

Trivia:

The schoolteacher played by Anton Lesser was called "Benech" in the novel, but the small French town in which much of the movie was based had a popular mayor whose name was similar, so officials asked that the name be changed. He's called "Renech" in the final version.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: There are several train scenes but in most (not all) of them the sound effects, mainly the whistle, are those of North American trains. European steam engines had a very different sound. Even the sound of the tracks is different in Europe because of a different type of roadbed.

Quotes:

Mirabel: [to Charlotte] Do you mind not approaching me in public? I'm rather keen on staying alive.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinemania: I anodos kai i ptosi tou Nazismou" (2008)

Soundtrack:

La Java Bleue

Unconvincing film following an excellent documentary

This film is a love story, loosely based on the real-life heroism of WWII. Those who enjoy such films would not have been disappointed by Charlotte Gray.

Unfortunately, Channel 4 decided to precede the film with the transmission of a documentary about the real-life heroines, whose personal sacrifices, pragmatic courage and strength of character shone out of my TV in a way that had me close to tears. The film, which followed, showed none of the iron self-discipline, the de-sensitising effect of war nor the constant fear of discovery these people lived with, but concerned itself with emotional story lines that would have been at home in any modern love story, loosely based on any social environment you care to choose. Far from blending into the background, along with the oppressed French population, Cate Blanchett was often portrayed parading in high heels and flattering autumnal colours, looking like a million francs

Too frequently for this viewer, it dipped into the downright absurd, e.g. having a) the male lead exposing himself to danger in an astonishing, barking tirade at German troops, b) the collaborationist French schoolteacher volunteering to the goodies that he was a snitch for the Germans and c) Charlotte herself somehow persuading a gendarme not to reveal her whereabouts to his search party colleagues, even when safely out of range of her pistol.

What a wonderful piece of history it was. And what a wonderful film could have been made of it (with the same cast too; the individual performances were all perfectly OK, especially in the minor roles).