Enigma (2001)

A young genius frantically races against time to crack an enemy code and solve the mystery surrounding the woman he loves.

Director:

Michael Apted

Writers:

Robert Harris (novel), Tom Stoppard (screenplay)

Stars:

Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dougray Scott	...	Thomas Jericho
Kate Winslet	...	Hester Wallace
Saffron Burrows	...	Claire
Jeremy Northam	...	Wigram
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau	...	Puck (as Nikolaj Coster Waldau)
Tom Hollander	...	Logie
Donald Sumpter	...	Leveret
Matthew Macfadyen	...	Cave
Richard Leaf	...	Baxter
Ian Felce	...	Proudfoot
Bohdan Poraj	...	Pinker
Paul Rattray	...	Kingcome
Richard Katz	...	De Brooke
Tom Fisher	...	Upjohn
Robert Pugh	...	Skynner

Storyline

During the heart of World War II, in March of 1943, cryptoanalysts at Britain's code-breaking center have discovered to their horror that Nazi U-boats have changed their Enigma Code. Authorities enlist the help of a brilliant young man named Tom Jericho to help them break the code again. The possibility of a spy within the British code-breakers' ranks looms and Tom's love, Claire, has disappeared. To solve the mysteries, Tom recruits Claire's best friend, Hester Wallace. In investigating Claire's personal life, the pair discovers personal and international betrayals.

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Plot Keywords:

code breaking | traitor | world war two | bletchley park | spy | 

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Taglines:

A thousand million, billion+ possibilities - 24 hours to get it right, and when you eventually do, it gets changed again...

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for a sex scene and language

Details

Country:

UK USA Germany Netherlands

Language:

English German

Release Date:

7 June 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enigma - Das Geheimnis

Filming Locations:

Trafalgar Square, St James's, London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$156,587, 21 April 2002

Gross USA:

$4,301,582

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,713,204

Company Credits

Production Co:

Manhattan Pictures International, Intermedia Films, Senator Film Produktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In reality, the chief code-breaker was Alan Turing, a homosexual who was prosecuted under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 (homosexuality was illegal in the UK at the time). While incarcerated, Turing accepted the medical solution of chemical castration. He ultimately committed suicide in 1954. Turing's life is documented in the Oscar-winning film The Imitation Game (2014) where he is played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

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Goofs

Some modern bulbs in close-ups of Enigma machines.

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Quotes

Tom Jericho: Contact signal... Mary Jane Hawkins!
Jozef 'Puck' Pukowski: [scoffs] The Oracle speaks.

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Connections

References Convoy (1940)

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Soundtracks

Adeste Fidelis (O Come All Ye Faithful)
(uncredited)
Music composer unknown
Latin words by John Francis Wade (ca 1743)
English lyrics by Frederick Oakeley (1841)
Background music in one scene

User Reviews

An overload of elements - and it's clear which element should have gone

Firstly: no, it's NOT a scandal that Alan Turing isn't mentioned. He couldn't be mentioned without being made into a character and given a role in the story - which would mean, among other things, placing him on the list of suspected traitors, at least temporarily, which would either be a slur, or (assuming it wasn't a slur because we'd immediately know him to be innocent) a constraint on the mystery. Throwing in a clearly fictitious genius was the right thing to do. (Turing was the most important, but not the only, genius involved.)

The main problem with "Enigma" is that emphasis is badly misplaced. I was interested in (a) how the war effort was going, (b) whether Bletchley Park would come up with solutions in time, (c) HOW the process of breaking codes was actually carried out, and (d) when Tom would get over his idiotic infatuation with that annoying blonde chick and fall, as any sensible person would, for the dynamic and twenty-times-more-attractive Hester (Kate Winslet). I won't swear that I was interested in these things in that order, but I WAS interested in them to the exclusion of everything else; the mystery subplot involving Claire that for some reason becomes THE plot, was a distraction. Its twists and turns (they come along like clockwork every fifteen minutes) are of the kind you don't even bother trying to follow. You just wait for the next confrontation between Dougray Scott and Jeremy Northam, of which Stoppard's (or Harris's) mechanical sleight-of-hand is just a means of providing. A pity he couldn't have found some other means - or moved Northam's character to a different movie altogether, where he wouldn't take time away from Enigma, Winslet's character, etc.

The film - and the script, too, all things considered - is well put together (intelligent writing, excellent acting and photography), so the Claire subplot makes it a real missed opportunity.