Directed by:
Gillian ArmstrongScreenplay:
Jeremy BrockCinematography:
Dion BeebeComposer:
Stephen WarbeckCast:
Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon, James Fleet, Rupert Penry-Jones, Nicholas Farrell, Helen McCrory, John Benfield, Jack Shepherd, Lewis Crutch (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
In 1942, London is in the middle of the Blitz. The city is blacked out and bombs shatter the night. Charlotte Gray is an ordinary woman who travels from Scotland to London to see how she can help. At a party, she meets Peter, a battle-weary RAF pilot on leave, and they fall in love. But the affair is abruptly halted when Peter is called back into service and his plane is shot down over France. If he is alive, he is probably hiding, sheltered by the French Resistance. Soon, Charlotte is also on her way to France, for like many women fluent in French, she has been recruited as a secret agent, working to support the Resistance. She could have asked for an assignment at home, but instead she jettisons fear, accepting a dangerous mission behind enemy lines, keeping secret her personal mission to find her missing lover. In a world where secrecy is all around, she discovers that she can only trust what is in her heart. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
The cinematography, costumes and general historical depiction of the setting and period are all very nice. But until the last quarter, the plot is lifeless and the film is too restrained and bland along the lines of a television movie. Not even Cate Blanchett stands out in this film; it’s as if she’s following the director’s instructions that “sometimes less is more”. If not for the dramatization at the end, Charlotte Gray would have left me as cold as reading an uninteresting book.
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Despite the excellent camera work, it is quite an average affair, mainly due to the script, which takes the somewhat cumbersome subject matter too seriously, thus undermining the tension. However, the characters ultimately find their way into the viewer's heart, and thanks to the captivating performance by Cate and the excellent Gambon, boredom is not a concern.
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