Charlotte Gray (film)

Charlotte Gray
UK cinema poster
Directed by	Gillian Armstrong
Produced by	Sarah Curtis Douglas Rae
Written by	Sebastian Faulks (novel) Jeremy Brock
Starring	Cate Blanchett Michael Gambon Billy Crudup
Music by	Stephen Warbeck
Cinematography	Dion Beebe
Distributed by	FilmFour (UK) Senator Film (Germany) Warner Bros. (USA) Universal Pictures (all other areas)
Release date(s)	17 December 2001
Running time	121 minutes
Country	United Kingdom Australia Germany
Language	English

Charlotte Gray is a 2001 British-Australian-German feature film directed by Gillian Armstrong, based on the novel of the same name by Sebastian Faulks. It is set in Vichy France, during World War II and stars Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon and Rupert Penry-Jones.

The story is based on the exploits of SOE's female agents that worked with the French resistance within occupied France (Charlotte Gray is a composite of operatives such as Pearl Cornioley, Nancy Wake, Odette Sansom and Violette Szabo).

Plot

In 1942, a young Scot, Charlotte Gray, travels to London to take a job as a medical receptionist for a Harley Street doctor. On the train she talks to a man who enters her compartment, where he "interviews" her and gives her his card with the date, time and address of a book launch on the back. Despite the war, social life in London is in full swing and her friends convince her to go. While there she soon meets Flight Lieutenant Peter Gregory, but is interrupted by the man from the train, who urges her to meet some people.

The temporary nature of life at the time is epitomized when she quickly loses her heart to Peter. They speak on the nature of war and bravery, Charlotte tells him she thinks she is being asked to try out for some secret organization, Peter tells her not to get involved in the war. Peter tells her his leave is over and he is to take part in operations over France for the next few weeks.

Charlotte joins the SOE and is seconded to FANY with the rank of Driver. She completes her initial training and is on leave when news comes back to Charlotte that Gregory's plane has gone down and he is missing in action.

Charlotte spent much of her childhood in France and speaks the language fluently, which got her noticed by the SOE. She signs up for operations in France and is dropped in with two other men. Her mission is to complete a test run; a handover of some radio valves.

Eventually her cover becomes dangerously close to being blown, so she settles down as housekeeper to an aging and no longer inspired painter, Levade, the father of her main resistance contact, Julien. She also helps to conceal two Jewish children, André and Jacob, after their parents are arrested and deported, and as the year progresses we learn about the steadily growing oppression of the Jews in France with complicity by the Vichy French government. Levade is interviewed about his Jewish ancestry, and when he stays silent, Julien admits the Jewish ancestry of both his father and himself in order to save the two little boys. Levade is then packed off to the prison camp/transfer station, but Julien is not taken, as he is not Jewish enough, but his father is, according to the law. Following betrayal by the duplicitous schoolmaster Renech, the two boys are taken anyway. Charlotte writes a letter to them and signs it from their mother, knowing how much they miss her. She runs to pass it through a hole in the wall of the train cargo box they share with Julien's father and many others, all saying goodbye to loved ones running along with the train. At the end of the war, she is reunited with, now-Squadron Leader Peter Gregory, but she explains that she has grieved for him since she was told that he had died.

At the end of the film, Charlotte returns to France and to Julien.

Though the film leaves the fate of Julien's father and the two little boys up to the viewer to piece together, the book makes it clear that all three died in the concentration camp.

Cast

• Cate Blanchett as Charlotte Gray
• James Fleet as Richard Cannerley
• Abigail Cruttenden as Daisy
• Rupert Penry-Jones as Peter Gregory
• Billy Crudup as Julien Levade
• Michael Gambon as Levade
• Anton Lesser as Renech

Production notes

Exteriors were filmed on location at Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, in the French department of Tarn-et-Garonne, as well as in England, Scotland and at Pinewood Studios.

The film was not commercially successful for FilmFour. Its financial failure led to a subsequent restructuring and reduction at the production company.

Box Office

Charlotte Gray grossed AUD 4,188,497 at the box office in Australia,^[1] USD 1,886,566 in the United Kingdom and Ireland,^[2] and only USD 741,394 in the United States,^[3] where it had a very limited release (widest release was 52 cinemas).^[3]

References

1. ^ Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office
2. ^ Box Office Mojo: Foreign Total for Charlotte Gray
3. ^ ^{a b} Box Office Mojo: Domestic Total for Charlotte Gray

External links

• Official site
• Charlotte Gray at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.saintantoninnobleval.com