''Charlotte Gray'' is a 2001

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Gillian Armstrong Gillian May Armstrong (born 18 December 1950) is an Australian feature film and documentary director, who specializes in period drama. Her films often feature female perspectives and protagonists. Many of her movies are historical dramas. E ...

. The

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, f ...

was adapted from

Sebastian Faulks Sebastian Charles Faulks (born 20 April 1953) is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France – ''The Girl at the Lion d'Or'', '' Birdsong'' and '' Charlotte Gray''. He has also pub ...

' 1999 novel '' Charlotte Gray''. It is set in

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its t ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The film stars

Cate Blanchett Catherine Elise Blanchett (; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor. Regarded as one of the finest performers of her generation, she is known for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. She has received n ...

James Fleet James Edward Fleet (born 11 March 1952) is an English actor of theatre, radio and screen. He is most famous for his roles as the bumbling and well-meaning Tom in the 1994 British romantic comedy film '' Four Weddings and a Funeral'' and the dim- ...

Abigail Cruttenden Abigail Lucy Cruttenden (born 23 March 1968) is an English actress. Cruttenden played opposite Sean Bean as his character Richard Sharpe's wife Jane in several episodes of the TV series '' Sharpe.'' In 2007, Cruttenden joined the cast from the ...

Rupert Penry-Jones Rupert William Penry-Jones (born 22 September 1970) is a British actor, known for his performances as Adam Carter in '' Spooks'', Clive Reader in ''Silk'', DI Joseph Chandler in ''Whitechapel'', and Mr Quinlan in the American horror series ''The ...

Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Regarded as one of Ireland and Britain's most distinguished actors, he is known for his work on stage and screen. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivi ...

and

Billy Crudup William Gaither Crudup (; born July 8, 1968) is an American actor. He is a four-time Tony Award nominee, winning once for his performance in Tom Stoppard's play ''The Coast of Utopia'' in 2007. He has starred in numerous high-profile films, in ...

. The story is based on the exploits of women in Britain's

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its p ...

(SOE) who worked with the

French resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

Nazi-occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

. The fictional character Charlotte Gray is a composite based on such SOE agents as Pearl Cornioley,

Nancy Wake Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, (30 August 1912 – 7 August 2011), also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II, and ...

Odette Sansom Odette Sansom (28 April 1912 – 13 March 1995), also known as Odette Churchill and Odette Hallowes, code named Lise, was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during the Second World War. S ...

and

Violette Szabo Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC (née Bushell; 26 June 1921 – February 1945) was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission ...

Plot

In 1942, a young

Scot The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...

, Charlotte Gray, travels by train to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to take a job in a surgery. Richard Cannerley enters her compartment, asking questions about her life and expressing interest that she is fluent in French. He gives Charlotte his business card with the details of a book launch party. There, he introduces Charlotte to some of his acquaintances and asks her to contact him later. Charlotte enjoys a quick wartime romance with

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior Officer (armed forces)#Commissioned officers, commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) RAF officer ranks, system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. I ...

Peter Gregory, whom she met at the party. Cannerley has recruited Charlotte for the SOE. She is seconded to

First Aid Nursing Yeomanry The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Its members wear a mili ...

with the rank of Driver. She completes rigorous SOE training. Charlotte learns that Gregory's plane has gone down over

occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied z ...

and that he is

missing in action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been killed, wounded, captured, ex ...

. Charlotte signs up for SOE operations in France, partly motivated by her wish to find him. Charlotte's first mission to France is to deliver radio

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as ...

s. She drops by parachute. She meets her contact in a café, but the contact is arrested by the police in front of her. Julien, Charlotte's main contact in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, reassigns her to act as housekeeper to his father, Levade. Levade is hiding two French Jewish boys, André and Jacob, after their parents were deported to a German concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Charlotte participates in a Resistance mission: helping to blow up a train carrying Nazi armaments and soldiers. The Nazis bring their own forces and

armoured vehicles Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fight ...

to the village to crush the Resistance in the area. Charlotte's SOE contact tells her that Gregory died after his aeroplane was shot down. A French official arrives to work with the Germans to ensure that their quota for deporting Jews is met. Renech, the village schoolmaster, follows Charlotte. He learns that Levade is hiding Jewish children. He threatens Charlotte with reporting the boys to the Nazis unless she agrees to become his "friend". She promises to meet him the following night. That night, Julien's Resistance group is ambushed by German soldiers, armed with

machine guns A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ...

. All are killed except Julien. Believing Charlotte betrayed them, Julien confronts her the next day at his father's house. Soon afterwards, German soldiers, with Renech and the French official, arrive at Levade's house. They question him about his Jewish ancestry, about which Renech apparently informed him. Renech tells Julien he must betray either his father or the boys (Renech does not care which). Julien announces that his father has a Jewish grandparent and that this means he himself is therefore of Jewish ancestry. The Germans arrest Levade, who understands Julien, who does not qualify for deportation because he is only Jewish, acted to protect the boys. Renech betrays the boys anyway. The Germans arrive at the boys' new hiding place before Charlotte can get there and capture them. Julien lies in wait for Renech in his apartment and shoots him dead. Julien leaves for southern France, perhaps to escape to fight elsewhere. Charlotte refuses to go with him, saying that she still has duties to fulfil. Charlotte simply smiles when he says that he does not even know her real name. Evading French police, Charlotte rushes to Levade's house where she hurriedly types a letter and takes it to the railway station where Jews are being loaded into cattle cars. Hearing the boys and Levade, Charlotte pushes the letter between the boards of their car. Levade reads it aloud to the boys: it purports to be a letter from their parents, encouraging them to care for one another, to eat well, to survive and reminding them of their parents' love. Although the film suggests that Levade and the Jewish boys are doomed, Faulks's novel states explicitly that they die in a concentration camp. Sometime later, Charlotte leaves France and returns to London. Peter Gregory, who in fact survived his aeroplane crash and has been in hiding in France, contacts her, wanting to resume their romance. Charlotte explains that she grieved for him and cannot go back to their romantic relationship. After the war, Charlotte returns to Julien at what was formerly his father's home. For the first time, she tells him her real name is Charlotte Gray.

Cast

as Charlotte Gray *

as Richard Cannerley *

as Daisy *

as Peter Gregory *

as Julien Levade *

as Monsieur Levade *Lewis Crutch as Andre *Matthew Plato as Jacob *

Anton Lesser Anton Lesser (born 14 February 1952) is an English actor. He is well known for his roles as Qyburn in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', as Thomas More in ''Wolf Hall'', as Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in ''The Crown'', as Prime Minister ...

as Monsieur Renech * Ron Cook as Mirabel * Helen McCrory as Françoise *

David Birkin David Tristan Birkin (born 1977) is a British artist working with photography and performance art. He is a Senior Lecturer at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Birkin is the co-founder of Visible Justice, a r ...

as Jean-Paul * John Bennett as Gerard *

Wolf Kahler Wolf Kahler (born 3 April 1940) is a German stage, film, television, and voice actor. Since 1975, he appeared in many English language US and UK television and film productions. One of his early roles was Kaiser Wilhelm II in Michael York's a ...

as Oberleutnant Lindermann * Jack Shepherd as Paul Pichon

Production

Filming took place between February and May 2001. Exteriors were filmed on location at

Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val (; oc, Sent Antonin) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Having played an influential and somewhat bellicose role in the history of the region from the 12th to th ...

, in the French department of

Tarn-et-Garonne Tarn-et-Garonne (; oc, Tarn e Garona ) is a department in the Occitania region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name. The area was originally part of the former provinces of Quercy and ...

, as well as in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

Reception

''Charlotte Gray'' received negative reviews from critics. It holds a 33% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

based on 89 reviews. The critics' consensus said, "A dull adaptation of Sebastian Faulk's novel despite gorgeous cinematography and Cate Blanchett's best efforts".

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gave the film a score of 48 based on 28 reviews. ''Charlotte Gray'' grossed AUD 4,188,497 at the box office in Australia,

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1,886,566 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and only USD 741,394 in the United States, where it had a very limited release (widest release was 52 cinemas).

References

External links

Official site
* * * {{Gillian Armstrong 2001 films 2001 romantic drama films 2000s war drama films Australian romantic drama films Australian war drama films British romantic drama films British war drama films 2000s English-language films English-language German films Films about the French Resistance Films based on British novels Films directed by Gillian Armstrong Films scored by Stephen Warbeck Films shot at Pinewood Studios Film4 Productions films German war drama films German romantic drama films 2000s British films 2000s German films