great acting, great story, great script, lush cinematography, stands alone from the book wich is impressive for an adaptation, cold mountain coulda learned a thing or 2. only thing i didn't get was the accents...how come michael gambon talked english-style, billy crudup french-style and cate scottish-style??! how come it crashd n burnd at the boxoffice?? this is my first evr post i wldn't have wasted it on a substandard movie lol!
shareCharlotte Gray is one of my top ten favorite films. What I take from the story is the character development of a self-centered, somewhat naive woman who goes to France for selfish purposes and is sobered when her first violation of orders results in the death of another woman agent. Gradually she loses her romanticized notion of love and war and sees that to do the right--irrespective of consequence--is central to life's meaning. She is heroic, not because she succeeds, but because she seeks to do what is right with no guarantee of the consequence. I found the book bland and a bit trashy, with a soap opera ending. The re-written ending for the screenplay makes the movie a cut above so many. [Warning--Spoiler here]. To be honest and say to her former boyfriend, "I can't go back," is to say, "I've become someone else. I've seen good and evil. I've sought to save lives. I have seen innocents die. My heart has changed." The real conclusion to the movie is one of the most satisfying because it becomes the fruition she never would have supposed at the beginning or during the unfolding of her life in this story. I also was captured by the artistic work--yes, cinematography and directing matter.
shareGradually she loses her romanticized notion of love and war and sees that to do the right--irrespective of consequence--is central to life's meaning. She is heroic, not because she succeeds, but because she seeks to do what is right with no guarantee of the consequence.
Maybe not best ever, but easily top 25. And I watch lots of movies.
As for the dolt, who "didn't like it one bit," I have no idea what movie he watched.
8.5
Totally agree with people on here who liked the movie. Cinematography, acting, direction, lighting were all top rate. It really captured the complex loyalties and internal strife of Vichy France. I'm a massive fan of Cate Blanchett, which makes me slightly biased!
I don't understand all the angst about accents. It's a common conceit in Anglophone films set in non-Anglophone countries for the characters to speak English, leaving it to the audience to appreciate that they are speaking the indigenous language of where the story is set. I really hate it when characters speak English with a German or French, etc accent - it nearly ruined Schindler's List for me: Germans speaking in Allo Allo accents, Polish Jews speaking with Oy Vey accents.
Far superior and truer to the facts is this film:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095707/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
I liked this film ... but best movie ever??? I think you need to see more movies!
share