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Charlotte Gray
Warner Bros. // PG-13 // July 9, 2002
List Price: $26.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
In the title role of Charlotte Gray, Cate Blanchett stars as an ordinary woman who is drawn into extraordinary service in World War II. With her knowledge of French, Charlotte is the perfect candidate to be a courier to German-occupied France, to support the French Resistance. Compelled by a desire to serve her country as well as her own, deeper, personal motivations, Charlotte takes on an assignment, only to find that even a "simple" undercover mission can take unexpected and dangerous turns.
Charlotte Gray offers a pleasingly complex storyline, at least for the first hour and a half of the film's running time. By complex I don't mean so much in the sense of plot, though the movie does develop an interesting narrative; what I mean is that the film establishes an emotional situation that has a great deal of depth to it, and that rings true. "Trust no one" is a staple theme of espionage movies, but that glib phrase doesn't account for the fact that people in desperate situations need to trust each other. Likewise, the idea of games within games is another key element in plot-driven spy films, but most movies don't fully give the perspective of the pawn, who is honestly trying to do what's right but is trapped in the machinations of the more powerful players.
The film Charlotte Gray presents a vision of how the French Resistance might actually have been, and what it might have been like to be a courier: the sense of not knowing what is going on, the constant fear, the sense of helplessness as tragedies occur on all sides. Charlotte Gray is at its best when it tries to convey the emotional side of all this, with Charlotte trying her best but with mixed motives, and discovering that others may have more than one agenda as well.
Unfortunately, what seems like a truly excellent film unravels in the last half hour. The main portion of the film establishes a tone for the film that's dark but rich and compelling; the final portion goes completely astray from that ending. In addition to abandoning the narrative threads that have been central to the story up to that point, the film shifts to a different tone, as if the emotional and ethical complexities had built to a point that were suddenly too much to manage. It's a real disappointment, because while the film overall is still certainly worth watching, Charlotte Gray could have been a fantastic film, if only it had held together all the way through.
Video
Warner's presentation of Charlotte Gray is very attractive, with the anamorphic widescreen image presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The print is clean and clear, with almost no noise at all, and the image is bright and vibrant, with vivid and lifelike colors. There is some edge enhancement visible, and the contrast is slightly off in darker scenes, but these are minor faults in a very nicely done DVD.
Audio
The audio track for Charlotte Gray is quite strong. It's provided in Dolby 5.1, and makes excellent use of the surround capabilities of the format to create a strong sense of the viewer being actually present in the scene. The sound quality is good on the whole, being quite clear, with a good balance of dialogue, music, and environmental sounds. The one slight weakness is that the volume in some scenes occasionally dips low enough that the dialogue is a bit too quiet.
Extras
The main special feature of interest in this DVD is the audio commentary track from director Gillian Armstrong. There's also the standard cast/crew filmography section. The statement that the DVD includes two "documentaries" is a masterpiece of marketing exaggeration, though: both "A Village Revisits History" and "Living Through Wartime" are under four minutes long apiece, and are of a generally promotional style in any case.
Final thoughts
I found Charlotte Gray to be a film that just missed being outstanding. I do recommend picking it up, as it's certainly an enjoyable movie to watch despite its shortcomings, and the quality of the DVD transfer is excellent.
Charlotte Gray offers a pleasingly complex storyline, at least for the first hour and a half of the film's running time. By complex I don't mean so much in the sense of plot, though the movie does develop an interesting narrative; what I mean is that the film establishes an emotional situation that has a great deal of depth to it, and that rings true. "Trust no one" is a staple theme of espionage movies, but that glib phrase doesn't account for the fact that people in desperate situations need to trust each other. Likewise, the idea of games within games is another key element in plot-driven spy films, but most movies don't fully give the perspective of the pawn, who is honestly trying to do what's right but is trapped in the machinations of the more powerful players.
The film Charlotte Gray presents a vision of how the French Resistance might actually have been, and what it might have been like to be a courier: the sense of not knowing what is going on, the constant fear, the sense of helplessness as tragedies occur on all sides. Charlotte Gray is at its best when it tries to convey the emotional side of all this, with Charlotte trying her best but with mixed motives, and discovering that others may have more than one agenda as well.
Unfortunately, what seems like a truly excellent film unravels in the last half hour. The main portion of the film establishes a tone for the film that's dark but rich and compelling; the final portion goes completely astray from that ending. In addition to abandoning the narrative threads that have been central to the story up to that point, the film shifts to a different tone, as if the emotional and ethical complexities had built to a point that were suddenly too much to manage. It's a real disappointment, because while the film overall is still certainly worth watching, Charlotte Gray could have been a fantastic film, if only it had held together all the way through.
Video
Warner's presentation of Charlotte Gray is very attractive, with the anamorphic widescreen image presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The print is clean and clear, with almost no noise at all, and the image is bright and vibrant, with vivid and lifelike colors. There is some edge enhancement visible, and the contrast is slightly off in darker scenes, but these are minor faults in a very nicely done DVD.
Audio
The audio track for Charlotte Gray is quite strong. It's provided in Dolby 5.1, and makes excellent use of the surround capabilities of the format to create a strong sense of the viewer being actually present in the scene. The sound quality is good on the whole, being quite clear, with a good balance of dialogue, music, and environmental sounds. The one slight weakness is that the volume in some scenes occasionally dips low enough that the dialogue is a bit too quiet.
Extras
The main special feature of interest in this DVD is the audio commentary track from director Gillian Armstrong. There's also the standard cast/crew filmography section. The statement that the DVD includes two "documentaries" is a masterpiece of marketing exaggeration, though: both "A Village Revisits History" and "Living Through Wartime" are under four minutes long apiece, and are of a generally promotional style in any case.
Final thoughts
I found Charlotte Gray to be a film that just missed being outstanding. I do recommend picking it up, as it's certainly an enjoyable movie to watch despite its shortcomings, and the quality of the DVD transfer is excellent.
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