Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Absolutely the worst movie.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Gorgeous cinematography, an interesting story and a strong turnout from the fantastic Cate Blanchett make this worth a watch even if ultimately the whole thing gets a bit draggy.It has a very old school war-romance vibe going and is beautiful to look at; the costumes, the scenery, the acting is top notch. Blanchett pours emotion into her role and is very believable as a young Scottish woman who enlists as an espionage agent for the French resistance during World War II. As she's fluent in French Charlotte is recruited as an agent, but her reasons for taking the mission are actually to find the fate of her missing lover, an RAF pilot who has been shot down behind enemy lines.Assuming a new name 'Dominique' parachutes into German occupied France and is taken in by a local family, where she works to support the Resistance while also becoming entangled in the lives of an old man played brilliantly by (Michael Gambon), two young Jewish boys in hiding and Billy Crudup the irresistible leader of the resistance. Crudup puts in a good turn here too, its not a role I've seen from him before. The story is unique and intense but unfortunately the whole effort just comes off as kind of dull. 2/28/16

Charlotte Gray is beautifully filmed, but I found the story somewhat disjointed. She is asked to go to France before her boyfriend is shot down, so her first reason for going is not because she is looking for him. They fall "in love" after a one-night stand? So typical of Hollywood. The man heading the cell in France says he is a Communist; he never says the group is communist. Even so, another incident of Hollywood making the communists look like the good guys, when in fact, Communism is even more harsh than Nazism or Fascism (count the number of people killed by each regime). The dialogue was hard to hear in parts of the movie, as it was too softly spoken (audio editor problem). There are some heart-wrenching scenes and one does get the feel of occupied France. I didn't understand why she had to dye her hair---undercover men do not do so, and it was probably hard to obtain hair color during the war. Then at the end of the movie, her hair is an in-between color: not her normal blonde as in the beginning, nor the dark brunette of her resistance days.

I was able to see this via Netflix streaming video.Near the beginning of WW2, Cate Blanchett is fictional Scot Charlotte Gray. She happens to meet James Fleet as Richard Cannerly, a RAF pilot, and it is love at first sight. But they soon are separated when he goes to fly in France, and is soon shot down and missing.Charlotte is fluent in French and volunteers to train for an undercover resistance mission in France, she says because of her patriotic duty. But she really is going in some way to find and save the pilot. If he is even still alive.Among the dozens she encounters is Billy Crudup as French Communist Julien Levade, who makes a lot of noise, helps the resistance, and always narrowly avoids being arrested or shot. He and Charlotte have mostly a dislike for one-another, but as often happens in this type of story changes over time. Also good is Michael Gambon as Levade, Julian's father with a large home in the country, and who also happens to be providing shelter for two Jewish boys whose parents have been taken away. Overall not a terribly good story, which settles eventually in a love triangle, but it is interesting to see how that period in France is portrayed, an uneasy peace between the Germans occupying north France, the south of France still controlled by the French.SPOILERS: Charlotte never finds her pilot, the Jewish boys are trucked away, as well as the old man for having Jewish grandparents. When Charlotte safely returns to London, her pilot eventually shows up too. He is eager to take up where they left off, but war has changed her. When peace breaks out and the war is over, she returns to France to find Julien, identifies her real name, and they embrace.

The story of Charlotte Gray is based upon the real life exploits of New Zealand heroine Nancy Wake, the most decorated Allied woman of WW2. Compared with Nancy's exploits, it is said that "Charlotte Gray" is an Enid Blyton story.The Nazis called Nancy "the White Mouse" and she was number 1 on the Gestapo's wanted list in France. Nancy was also later became the leader of 7000 French Resistance fighters who took on 22,000 German troops. She led a small group who stormed the Gestapo headquarters and she personally killed the German sentries with karate chops. She also rode a bicycle 700 km to deliver an urgent dispatch.The acting of Cate Blachett in this movie is excellent as usual. The period setting is also very good. It is a pity that American audiences did not like this film. It is time for some of them to grow up and recognize that the whole world doesn't revolve around American people.