It wouldn’t be awards season without the arrival of a few World War II movies; this year, Charlotte Gray helps fill the slate. Adapted from what I understand is a superb novel by Sebastian Faulks, the movie tells the tale of a young woman who becomes a spy in the French resistance movement after her boyfriend’s plane is shot down in France.
Squibbles and I saw this movie just over two weeks ago, and this is one case where I truly regret not writing the review immediately, as this may be the least memorable release of 2001. While I have vague recollections that the always-yummy Cate Blanchett played the title role, and some vaguer memory of Billy Crudup as Julien, a French-Communist resistance member, I’d be hard pressed to tell you much more about the film.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but it struck me as more of the movie-of-the-week variety than a feature film. I’m certain there was a good story in there just waiting to burst out — a book with so much critical and popular acclaim must have told a better tale — unfortunately it just didn’t come out on the screen. As a result, the lack of chemistry between the leads was even more pronounced than it might have been, leaving you with a tedious, unmemorable mish-mash of a film.
Rating: That Grade 9 geography class everyone skipped, 4/10