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Enigma

  • 2001
  • R
  • 1h 59m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
22K
YOUR RATING
Jeremy Northam, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
Trailer
Play trailer0:32
7 Videos
25 Photos
DramaMysteryRomance

A young genius frantically races against time to crack an enemy code and solve the mystery surrounding the woman he loves.A young genius frantically races against time to crack an enemy code and solve the mystery surrounding the woman he loves.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
    • Tom Stoppard
  • Stars
    • Dougray Scott
    • Kate Winslet
    • Saffron Burrows
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    22K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Michael Apted
    • Writers
      • Robert Harris
      • Tom Stoppard
    • Stars
      • Dougray Scott
      • Kate Winslet
      • Saffron Burrows
    • 189User reviews
    • 101Critic reviews
    • 64Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 6 nominations

    Videos7

    Enigma
    Trailer 0:32
    Watch Enigma
    Enigma Scene: I Love You
    Clip 0:40
    Watch Enigma Scene: I Love You
    Enigma Scene: The Kiss
    Clip 0:51
    Watch Enigma Scene: The Kiss
    Enigma Scene: Hester Looks Good
    Clip 0:25
    Watch Enigma Scene: Hester Looks Good
    Enigma Scene: Jericho Conspire
    Clip 0:57
    Watch Enigma Scene: Jericho Conspire
    Enigma Scene: The Size Of Your Brain
    Clip 0:44
    Watch Enigma Scene: The Size Of Your Brain
    Enigma: B-Roll
    Featurette 3:31
    Watch Enigma: B-Roll

    Photos25

    Jeremy Northam, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
    Jeremy Northam, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
    Jeremy Northam, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
    Jeremy Northam, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
    Jeremy Northam, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
    Jeremy Northam, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
    Jeremy Northam, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
    Jeremy Northam, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
    Kate Winslet in Enigma (2001)
    Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)
    Kate Winslet in Enigma (2001)
    Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott in Enigma (2001)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Dougray Scott
    Dougray Scott
    • Thomas Jericho
    Kate Winslet
    Kate Winslet
    • Hester Wallace
    Saffron Burrows
    Saffron Burrows
    • Claire
    Jeremy Northam
    Jeremy Northam
    • Wigram
    Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
    Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
    • Puck
    • (as Nikolaj Coster Waldau)
    Tom Hollander
    Tom Hollander
    • Logie
    Donald Sumpter
    Donald Sumpter
    • Leveret
    Matthew Macfadyen
    Matthew Macfadyen
    • Cave
    Richard Leaf
    Richard Leaf
    • Baxter
    Ian Felce
    • Proudfoot
    Bo Poraj
    Bo Poraj
    • Pinker
    • (as Bohdan Poraj)
    Paul Rattray
    Paul Rattray
    • Kingcome
    Richard Katz
    Richard Katz
    • De Brooke
    Tom Fisher
    Tom Fisher
    • Upjohn
    Robert Pugh
    Robert Pugh
    • Skynner
    Corin Redgrave
    Corin Redgrave
    • Admiral Trowbridge
    Nicholas Rowe
    Nicholas Rowe
    • Villiers
    Angus MacInnes
    Angus MacInnes
    • Commander Hammerbeck
    • Director
      • Michael Apted
    • Writers
      • Robert Harris
      • Tom Stoppard
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Mick Jagger owned an original four-rotor Enigma encoding machine which he loaned to the film for historical accuracy in constructing props.
    • Goofs
      Some of the car scenes take place amongst fields that are clearly modern monoculture with huge tractor sprayer lines in the fields of grain.
    • Quotes

      Mermagen: D'you know, without your glasses, you don't look half bad.

      Hester Wallace: Do you know, without my glasses, nor do you?

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Million Dollar Hotel/The Invisible Circus/Head Over Heels (2001)
    • Soundtracks
      5 Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'
      Written by Ralph Vaughan Williams (as Vaughan Williams)

      Published by Oxford University Press

      Performed by The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields / Neville Marriner (as Sir Neville Marrriner)

      Licensed courtesy of Decca Music Group Limited

    User reviews189

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    Who was listening to whom?
    Purely as a film I give ENIGMA 6 out of 10; as an historical document – zero. Generally I do not necessarily expect a film with an historical content to be a piece of cinematic non-fiction but merely a source of entertainment, so I score it on this basis. If the distributors claim it as a true historical record then that is another matter. Enigma has a fairly good plot but suffers from poor direction and frequently indistinct dialogue. It centres around a young man and a young girl working at the Government's code deciphering establishment at Bletchley Park and their involvement in the breaking of the German U-boat cipher SHARK (or TRITON to give it its original German name). As the mechanics of the breaking of SHARK has little story value a sub-plot involving a femme-fatale as German spy is introduced.

    During 1941 our Atlantic convoy losses were becoming unsustainable so the ability to read SHARK was imperative. The film has a section in which the code breakers are shown helping a naval lieutenant to pinpoint the position of U-boats in the Atlantic based on wireless direction finding information. This was not the work of Bletchley Park so is historically wrong. In fact,convoys and U boats were tracked by the Admiralty in London.

    The film also purports that breaking SHARK was the sole factor in helping to bring down convoy losses. The truth is somewhat more ironic. Whilst we could not read TRITON/SHARK the Germans could read the Royal Navy Cipher No. 3! However it took us a year to find out. It was this cipher which was used to transmit the rendez-vous points for departing convoys to RN escort vessels in the North Atlantic. The Germans picked this up at their listening stations and promptly re-transmitted it to their U-boat wolf packs who were then able to proceed to the rendez-vous ready to pick off their prey. This information was sent in SHARK so once it was broken we knew that RN Cipher No.3 was being compromised and had to be changed. As a result convoy losses decreased.

    The reason for the weakness in Cipher No.3 was that when WWII started the Royal Navy was essentially still using code book methods from the Great War and were very slow to adopt mechanical encipherment, similar to Enigma. On the other hand the RAF introduced it in the 1930s for use on the Defence Teleprinter Network run by the GPO. For this the Type-X machine was developed and was featured in the film for reading German enigma code. The German Enigma machine itself features prominently in the opening sequences of the film with several close-ups and supporting dialogue explaining how it worked.

    Did the Germans know that we could read their enigma messages? This is a moot point as officially they did not but both Rommel and Doenitz, the U-boat commander, were highly suspicious; Rommel because convoys from Italy to North Africa were frequently sunk and Doenitz because U-boat code changes only gave him a short term advantage against convoys. In both cases the leakage was blamed on spies, although it has been suggested that Doenitz's staff were very possibly convinced but dare not tell Hitler that Enigma was compromised, so they just contented themselves with improving the system. Unlike the British centralised Intelligence centre at Bletchley Park the Germans had separate intelligence staffs for each of the three services with the inevitable rivalry between them. This weakened their counter intelligence operations which, coupled with the extreme secrecy surrounding Ultra, meant that our success against Enigma went undetected.

    The film is well worth seeing for its entertainment value and just a wee peek at the work of Bletchley Park but for anyone interested in learning the truth about this fascinating story I suggest that they read the official history entitled "British Intelligence in WWII" by Professor Sir F. H. (Harry) Hinsley (himself an alumnus of BP), or just Google "Bletchley Park".
    helpful•13
    2
    • Fleapit
    • Jan 7, 2006

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 7, 2002 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • Germany
      • Netherlands
    • Languages
      • English
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Mật Mã Enigma
    • Filming locations
      • Adelphi Building, John Adam Street, Strand, London, England, UK(Exterior)
    • Production companies
      • Manhattan Pictures International
      • Intermedia Films
      • Senator Film Produktion
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $4,301,582
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $156,587
      • Apr 21, 2002
    • Gross worldwide
      • $15,713,204
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 59 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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