User reviews

Charlotte Gray was something of a box-office disaster in the States, which damaged its reputation in the rest of the world. While it's not hard to see why American audiences didn't go for it, it's harder to understand the malice European critics greeted it with. It's a pretty good portrait of resistance infighting (the Communists are setup by the De Gaullists as liberation approaches), local collaboration (the schoolteacher gladly helps the Nazis root out Jewish families) and the nuts and bolts of resistance work. No great heroics or big setpieces, which is probably why it tanked: the big climax is more an emotional risk than the rescue audiences probably wanted. Performances are mostly good - Blanchett is much better than contemporary reviews would have you believe in particular. There are better films, but it's a good movie and for my money better than the alright Lucie Aubrac. I liked it enough to buy the DVD.

Serendipity! This relatively unknown movie -why?- is another compelling showcase of Blanchett's talent. She kept the storyline moving along and engages the audience with her wonderful camera presence. She is believable as our heroine because of her chemistry with both male interests, make resolve with her vulnerabilities, yet still able to be strong as a secret agent should and providing a motherly side, sheltering little ones from harsh truths in dangerous times.

France's beautiful & panoramic countryside was the backdrop during WW2. The clothing, locale and props of the period seem authentic. The actors delivered their parts very well, contributing credibility to the story's basis. Charlotte Gray conveys what people undergo and learn about the world and themselves in dreadfully gripping circumstances.

Realistic, moving, tear-dropping!

In the midst of WWII, Charlotte Gray (Cate Blanchett) falls for dashing pilot Peter Gregory. She is recruited into the secret service since she spent time in France and is fluent. When Peter is lost behind the lines, she pushes to get the courier job for the French Resistance. Only she has the ulterior motive to find her missing love. Once on french soil, she finds french communist fighter Julien Levade (Billy Crudup).

This is an utterly old fashion melodrama. That has less to do with the setting or time period. It has more to do with the style and the subject matter. The romance has no time to develop and has a very superficial manufactured old romance novel feel. Other than a pretty face, there is nothing to justify the grand romance being depicted. It would probably be more compelling to have this about a family member. Cate Blanchett is a truly wonderful actress, and any positives from this movie are all due to her. There is a sense of danger but it doesn't persist. Director Gillian Armstrong has made a beautiful movie. It just doesn't have better passion or excitement.

Is Cate Blanchett the best actress today? I start believing it. She just performed superbly in all the last films I saw. Almost any critic I read compares her with Meryl Streep, and no wonder - she has the interior strength and beauty that makes her shine in all roles, without being of a remarkable physical beauty.

Unfortunately, 'Charlotte Gray' cannot offer Cate Blanchett a good script to turn it in a Big movie. The story is quite un-believable, and if it has any logic it is Hollywood logic. Hard to believe an anonymous girl can train and become a spy just because she wants to search for her disappeared lover, and we never get any sense of the reasons she is being sent for. The Holocaust story is spoiled and sentimental a la Hollywood, and the characters behave without any real interior reason, just as the cliches of big studios American movies ask. Most awful is the treatment of the language. Blanchet is a Scot, lives in London, and then is sent to France because she is speaking fluent French. All the movie is spoken in English. Why? Language plays a role in the spying game, and if French was used in the scenes happening in France, much credibility could have been added.

Despite all the film is watchable, and I enjoyed every second Cate Blanchett is on screen. I am looking forward for the great movies and the Oscars to come, as she deserves.

In this evocative war film, we don't get the usual battle scenes or

soldiers etc ( such as Saving Private Ryan or Full Metal Jacket ).

We do not see the brutality and realism of death camps. We get a

refreshing perspective, showing how war affects everyday people,

such as Charlotte and the French villagers, and the two little boys ,

who we do not realise are Jewish straight away; just ordinary kids. This film works on a number of levels; how war forces people to

make unbearable decisions, such as Julien's decision to save the

children rather than his father. How war causes inherent distrust,

betrayal, and loyalty; bringing out both the worst and best in

everyday people. It comments on the fleeting circumstances of

love, and its fragility; Charlotte realises that because of her

experiences she cannot possibly love the English pilot; which is

what all of her motivation and desire originally was; war changes

people forever. Armstrong deliberately and cleverly gives Blanchett

the name "Gray"; in the process of the story she increasingly

becomes confused, guilt-ridden, distrustful; realising that war is

not the good guy against the bad guy ( an easy attitude for the pilot

who can just shoot down an enemy plane if it has German

markings, or bomb targets that are German...he was aloof and

"cold" because of this role, and Charlotte sees it in their final

meeting, after she had been immersed in the conflict rather than

flying above it ). War has so many shades of grey ( gray ), very

perceptively portrayed by the director; naturally, a woman. This will

be an eternal issue; carried on at this very moment by the

inevitable war with Iraq; politicians and those who brainwash the

military, if they haven't been already, can only see in black or white,

and will always face the consequences of this.

Cate Blanchett is becoming one of Australia's best known actresses worldwide and with good reason. She has the class, style, and appearance of a female movie star from the golden era of Hollywood. She is still a classic beauty but conveys intelligence, wit, and seriousness about her roles as a work of art. In the title role of Charlotte Grey, she plays a British woman who goes looking for the man she loves in the midst of World War II. He was a member of the Royal Air Force and his plane was shot down. Determined to find out his fate regardless of all the dangerous consequences, Charlotte assumes a new name and is taken in by a French family. They filmed the village scenes in Toulouse with locals as extras. Some remember when the Germans invaded France with great pain and anguish even to this day. The film is quietly strong but not for the cinema. It might have gotten better reception on Masterpiece Theater. The scenery, art direction, costumes are all first rate but the writing lacked something in my opinion.

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.

I am not denying Charlotte Grey doesn't have flaws, it does, but I for one do not think it is a bad movie. In fact I think it is pretty good. I agree the story is unbelievable on the most part, and the script is really quite poor in spots and the film does drag in the middle. However, the cinematography, costumes, sets, scenery and locations are immaculate and the music is haunting and beautiful and the growing attraction between Charlotte and Julien avoids the trap of being too sappy. The direction is decent enough too, while the acting is good particularly from Cate Blanchett who is very classy and determined and I liked Michael Gambon and Billy Crudup too. Overall, it is a pretty good film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This film has a genuine feel for the grand old tradition of Hollywood war romances. It's elegantly crafted escapism of the highest order, beautiful to look at, with the added bonus of an intelligent script and great performances all around. As I've seen time and again where poor endings mar otherwise good films, I'm always keen on how the curtain falls. This one had what I felt was a great curtain line that nicely tied in the heroine's odyssey of identity confusion and moral ambiguity in the shadow world of undercover war espionage (a "gray" that was more than just her name) to her eventual discovery of self, strength, and purpose as her true character is slowly forged in the crucible of danger and strife. As war brings out the very worst of qualities in humanity, so too can heightened expressions of bravery, compassion, and loyalty serve to greatly ennoble the human spirit in times of blood and sorrow. The movie does a nice job of highlighting that theme in several of its characters. Cate Blanchett does a wonderful job with the title role and this film is a strong 9 out of 10.

This film recently surfaced on Channel 4.I saw it when it came out and thought it awful then and my view has not changed.What grates with me is the fact that it trivialises the role that many brave women played in SOE.Cate Blanchett is approached on a train.Well that just would not have happened.She seems to have been sent to France without a defined role.One minute she is a courier then she is involved in the blowing up of the train.She is constantly asking people for their names,and then if that is not bad enough she tries to find out about her RAF boyfriend who is hiding in a French village.Then she becomes involved in trying to avoid the roundup of Jewish children.None of this is in any way true to life.Watch "Odette" or "Carve Her Name With Pride" to find a truer representation of SOE agents in France.

This film is a love story, loosely based on the real-life heroism of WWII. Those who enjoy such films would not have been disappointed by Charlotte Gray.

Unfortunately, Channel 4 decided to precede the film with the transmission of a documentary about the real-life heroines, whose personal sacrifices, pragmatic courage and strength of character shone out of my TV in a way that had me close to tears. The film, which followed, showed none of the iron self-discipline, the de-sensitising effect of war nor the constant fear of discovery these people lived with, but concerned itself with emotional story lines that would have been at home in any modern love story, loosely based on any social environment you care to choose. Far from blending into the background, along with the oppressed French population, Cate Blanchett was often portrayed parading in high heels and flattering autumnal colours, looking like a million francs

Too frequently for this viewer, it dipped into the downright absurd, e.g. having a) the male lead exposing himself to danger in an astonishing, barking tirade at German troops, b) the collaborationist French schoolteacher volunteering to the goodies that he was a snitch for the Germans and c) Charlotte herself somehow persuading a gendarme not to reveal her whereabouts to his search party colleagues, even when safely out of range of her pistol.

What a wonderful piece of history it was. And what a wonderful film could have been made of it (with the same cast too; the individual performances were all perfectly OK, especially in the minor roles).

Those who like French Resistance movies, you've got to check out the exciting Charlotte Gray. Starring Cate Blanchett, she plays a spy with a cover blown, who gets a new cover and joins the French Resistance. Fan or not of Miss Blanchett, everyone can agree she's a master at accents. In this movie, with her luscious auburn locks and flawless accent, you really believe she's Scottish! And do any of you recognize the cute French guy? He's actually not French; he's Billy Crudup.

Full of tense scenes with near-misses, explosions, and potential arrests around every corner, this WWII movie is not to be missed if you prefer your action scenes to star civilians instead of soldiers. Normally, this movie isn't my genre of choice, but I recognize it was well-made and very well acted. The setting really drew me in, and the period piece clothing looked authentic - always a bonus.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. During several scene transitions, the camera swirls in a circle and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

A bit too sentimental for my taste but a fairly a decent drama, concerning a young British woman, who joins a party of very brave, French (WW2) resistance fighters. Can't find much above this pretty average production but the subject matter is certainly an interesting sub-chapter, from the war period.

I adore this movie. It is an extraordinary tale of one woman's courage and passion during World War Two. Cate Blanchett is remarkable and vibrant as always. She is really one of the most talented actresses. Billy Crudup is very charismatic and charming. This movie is both beautiful and tragic. It is definitely worth watching if you are looking for a film that will keep you fascinated and entralled. It's worth renting just to see the excellent chemistry between Blanchett and Crudup.

I read many other reviews. There is a lot more going for this film, than there is not.

Cate B is captivating as ever. Good entertainment.

This film held my attention the entire time. The cinematography was absolutely stunning. This is a beautiful film. I was taken in by the beauty that Cate Blanchett and Billy Crudup possess. It wasn't the most exciting cinema ever, but none-the-less it still had it's wonderfully planned moments. Worth a watch!

Many films have been inspired from the World War II. This one adds a romantic note to the whole struggle of the war. Beautiful structured, follows the life of the main character, Charlotte Gray, who participates on the resistance in France. Amazing landscapes, form a nice atmosphere, in addition to the great costumes. On the other hand, the performances are perfect, picturing nicely the human drama and the effort to deal with difficult situations that the war create. The director controls the drama and the thriller so that they are not too much for the audience to be bored. The only thing that works against the whole movie is the fact that they are using English as the main language, even on letters, which seems odd as the main plot takes place in France. All in all, a great historical film.

I won't mince my words. This is a poorly put together chick flick, a glammed-up, (should have been) straight-to-video potboiler.

Here's what I believe the director thought:

(1) France looks nice - lets make a picture there (2) Cate Blanchett looks nice - lets put her in France (3) Berets are back in fashion - lets put Cate Blanchett in a beret, in France (4) Hmm.. maybe too nice so far. Lets have some Germans in there, they're not nice. (5) "Crudup" is a great name - lets have him in France, with Cate Blanchett, and her beret. (6) Lets rock !!

Heres what I thought:

(1) Cate Blanchett does look stunning throughout this film, and can certainly wear a beret. (2) It is completely preposterous to have her speak in a Scottish accent prior to her going to France, and in an English accent when she gets there. When she is supposed to be speaking fluent French. (3) Cate appears to have been sent into France by the British with no particular aim in mind. She wombles about, messing everything up, and appears to be completely superfluous; there is not one thing she does for the War effort which could not have been performed just as efficiently by a half-trained monkey - in a beret, of course. (4) Crudup, the heroic Maquis, is just about the most lamebrained person you could hope to meet. He spends a lot of his time shouting at Germans, which I would presume from my knowledge of goings-on in France at that time, is not the best way to remain incognito. (5) The Plot is awful. Yet again the Hollywood-pleasing formula of "Poor Old Jews + Bad Old Germans" is trotted out. Nothing new, cliche follows cliche. Oh, but we now have Bad French too. Big Deal.

This really is a laughably bad film. But it is more than that, it is insulting to the memory of those brave men and women who went into France during the War serving with SOE.

Forget this nonsense. If you want to know what really happened in France during the WW2, rent "Carve Her Name With Pride", the story of Violet Szabo, a real SOE operative.