A Gray Movie (Charlotte Gray (DVD))

Name: ultras67

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Product:	Charlotte Gray (DVD)
Date:	30/06/04 (106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Basically a good script, cinematography

Disadvantages: Mostly everything else

You are sitting at home with bad weather outside and a film comes on that you don?t normally watch. What do you do hotshot? What do you do?

In my case, I unfortunately took the gamble and watched the movie. It is based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks and is a ?thriller? that follows the adventures of our eponymous heroine Charlotte Gray ( Cate Blanchett ) in Nazi-occupied France at the height of World War II. It should tell of heroism ( or in this case mostly heroinism ), the dangers of war, love, self sacrifice etc etc but ends up being a blank, dull, grey canvas that?s not fully filled. The plot should have been able to support the film, as at its core, there is a good story there.

On travelling to London, Gray meets someone on a train and an innocent conversation strikes up during which she reveals she is fluent in French, an invitation is offered to attend a party and all of a sudden she is a secret agent in training. She will be used as a courier in the French Resistance. She readily accepts as she has an ulterior motive, to find her lover - who is a shot down British Air Force pilot ? Peter Gregory (Rupert Penry Jones ).

After her training she assumes a different identity and is flown to France where she meets her contacts and starts her new life. The main contact is Julien Levade (Billy Crudup), who is the leader of the local French resistance group. Of course the inevitable happens and she starts to have feelings for Levade ? especially as her cover is as the housekeeper of his father ( Michael Gambon ).

The trouble with this picture is it doesn?t equal the sum of its parts. I mean, the cast the good, the film looks great thanks to cinematographer Dion Beebe, the score is neatly allied to the scenes on the screen and yet. It?s all vaguely familiar and done by the numbers. Through the film we are seeing actions that should make us weep with sorrow, jump for joy and be on the edge of our seat with excitement but we aren
?t, or at least, I amn't. The characters just don?t play with enough feeling to make me feel anything toward them. Its almost like its been done in their sleep they are so void of emotion most of the time. The script doesn?t really fully develop themes which would have been interesting to see ? how many movies are there with 2nd world war heroines? Not Many.


Directed by Gillian Armstrong
Cast
Cate Blanchett - Charlotte Gray
Billy Crudup - Julien Levade
Michael Gambon - Levade
Rupert Penry Jones - Peter Gregory.
James Fleet - Richard Cannerly


Next time, I will take the easy option and bang on a favourite DVD or just sleep.

Summary: