Charlotte Gray (2001)

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

Director:

Gillian Armstrong

Writers:

Sebastian Faulks (novel), Jeremy Brock (screenplay)

Stars:

Cate Blanchett, James Fleet, Abigail Cruttenden

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Charlotte, a young Scottish woman, who has studied in France, is living in London during World War II. Within weeks she both falls in love with a young pilot and is recruited by the Secret Service to act as a courier for the French Resistance. However her mission behind enemy lines becomes a personal mission to find her lover who has been shot down. Assigned to a Communist Resistance group she encounters acts of betrayal from sometimes unexpected sources, but meets the violence of war and her own disappointment with hope....

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Plot Keywords:

1940s | resistance | french resistance | secret | royal air force | 

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Taglines:

The story of an ordinary woman in an extraordinary time.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

FilmFour and Warner Bros. [UK] Warner Bros. . Awards Site - trailer, screenings [United States]

Country:

UK Australia Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 January 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Liebe der Charlotte Gray

Filming Locations:

Midi-Pyrénées, France

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£450,229 (United Kingdom), 24 February 2002, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$72,806, 30 December 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$668,140, 17 February 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ecosse Films,FilmFour,Pod Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The true story of Nancy 'White Mouse' Wake inspired Sebastian Faulks' 1999 novel Charlotte Gray upon which the film is based. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Mrs Wake was "a truly remarkable individual whose selfless valour and tenacity will never be forgotten". Born in New Zealand but raised in Australia, she is credited with helping hundreds of Allied personnel escape from occupied France. Working as a journalist in Europe, she interviewed Adolf Hitler in Vienna in 1933 and then vowed to fight against his persecution of Jews. After the fall of France in 1940, Mrs Wake became a French Resistance courier and later a saboteur and spy - setting up escape routes and sabotaging German installations, saving hundreds of Allied lives. She worked for British Special Operations and was parachuted into France in April 1944 before D-Day to deliver weapons to French Resistance fighters. At one point, she was top of the Gestapo's most wanted list. "Freedom is the only thing worth living for. While I was doing that work, I used to think it didn't matter if I died, because without freedom there was no point in living," Ms Wake once said of her wartime exploits. It was only after the liberation of France that she learned her husband, French businessman Henri Fiocca, had been tortured and killed by the Gestapo for refusing to give her up. She was Australia's most decorated servicewoman, and one of the most decorated Allied servicewomen of World War II. France awarded her its highest honour, the Legion D'Honneur; she also received Britain's George Medal, and the US Medal of Freedom. In 2004, she was made Companion of the Order of Australia. She died in London on August 8, 2011 aged 98.

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Goofs

In the opening shot, a train carrying Charlotte to London is shown crossing a viaduct in the Scottish Highlands. The viaduct in question is the Glenfinnan viaduct, and in the distance you can see the Glenfinnan Monument to Bonny Prince Charlie. The train is clearly traveling North, away from London.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Charlotte Gray: [narration] It all seemed so simple. We were at war. The Nazis were the enemy. And because good must triumph over evil, so we would triumph over them. How could we have know that war ever trades in such certainty? That we are nothing is unthinkable. Anything could be true. Even a lie.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Black Eyed Susan Brown
Master performed by Phil Harris and his orchestra featuring The Three Ambassadors
By courtesy Hindsight Records
Written by Al Hoffman and Al Goodhart
Published by Keith Prowse Music Publishing Co Ltd

User Reviews

A lovely film

If nothing else, the superb cinematography makes Charlotte Grey a winner. The picture is filmed through a creative and sensitive eye with wonderful angles, evocative moods and sensitive textures and shades. The rain and snow outside the train window in the opening scenes is somehow just so right. But photography aside, this is a gripping and well acted work that will satisfy fans of both war movies and love stories. Michael Gambon gives an Oscar worthy performance. It's also so nice to see a film that does not have one of those dreadful syrupy and impractical happy endings. Not that it's a totally sad ending. Call it a bitter sweet ending. In any case this film is an absolute delight from the titles to the closing scene.