Charlotte Gray
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon, Rupert Penry Jones
Director: Gillian Armstrong
The film: As Charlotte Gray's face appears from beneath the parachute that brought her to France, we see a character wary of Nazi bullets and an actor surveying a minefield of films draping love stories over World War II dramas. Director Gillian Armstrong chose to navigate her character through the minefield. If she'd taken the easier option of detonating it and filming Charlotte running from the ball of flame, the reviews might have been kinder. But rather than a champion of Girlpower, Charlotte is naive, manipulated and often lost. When Armstrong accepted Cate Blanchett's offer to work on Sebastian Faulks' novel, she opted against downplaying the intelligence of her audience. They repaid her by drawing parallels between the film and her central character's surname.
Charlotte Gray (Blanchett) is a young Scottish woman compelled to contribute to the war effort as her father had in World War I. Her love for a pilot, Peter Gregory (Rupert Penry Jones), stems from a desire to be him, to have his bravery. He is shot down over France as she begins training to be a courier between the Allies and the French Resistance. By the time she lands in Vichy's south her sense of duty is competing with a desire to find Gregory. She works with Julien Lavade (Billy Crudup), head of a Resistance cell, who hides two Jewish boys with his father (Michael Gambon).
Armstrong reminds us that the Resistance was a communist organisation fighting the Germans with a view to taking over France. She also refuses to shirk from showing that British spies were used to kill Resistance fighters when the conflict swung against Germany and the Allies started thinking about post-war France. In assuming another identity, Charlotte discovers herself by realising the fight will not define her, that 'war makes fools of us all'. Her courier duties amount to less than the comfort she offers the Jewish boys.
The extras: Interviews with Blanchett, Armstong and Faulks, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the transformation of the town used during filming and a commentary by Armstrong.
The verdict: Instead of trying to outdo one of cinema's largest genres with bigger bombs and nastier Nazis, Armstrong saw the challenge in cutting cliches and letting the war speak for itself.
The strength of her film became its weakness for many. By taking her character a step or two beyond GI Jane, Armstrong lost a few of us. Its critics questioned the pace and the English spoken by French characters. Perhaps they would have been happier reading subtitles for a simpler film about a woman liberated through a role in the war. If not, they might get hold of the DVD and watch it again with the French language track. Blanchett capitalises on one of the best female parts we'll see for a long time, while Crudup dignifies the love interest role normally left to women. Even Armstrong's tough nature must have cracked on learning that Gambon would take his small role.
