Disappointing. After 40 minutes I had enough. The little Jewish boys that are sheltering with a French family declare “we don’t like it here” and want to leave the house. After Blanchett lands in France she has a first contact with a resistance member who asks her to pass her the contraband item. The police comes in the coffee house where they are, don’t search anybody else, find the item and arrest her. Yes, Blanchett is good, but the script needed two rewrites. Free on YouTube with a few ads.

I'm a little perplexed at the mostly negative response. Yeah the screenplay could have used a little polishing but overall it is a mature thriller with excellent performances.

More boredom than passion

Screenplay could have used some more work but the Characters and the story all the way to the very end was very touching. Cate really carried this whole story and Character build all the way through. The ending had me thinking for a few days. there are so many stories through this time frame that we really dont know about. Would recommend to at least see. Love Cate.

After hearing this was about the exploits of some of the most decorated and highly regarded Special Operations women in wartime history – it quickly became obvious it was wrong to listen to those who compared Charlotte Gray to brave resistance giants like Nancy Wake, etc. For those who don't care to examine fine story details or fans of Gillian Armstrong and Kate Blanchet, this will fit the bill nicely - others may find themselves lulled into disappointment. Was it the director who invested too much energy into arty and flamboyant camera movements, instead of concentrating on essential story and character development? Or was it her D.O.P. (Dion Beebe) rehearsing for his next project ‘Chicago' (that was much more suited to this flamboyant style) Kate Blanchet seemed to be playing by numbers as if she perhaps might also have felt her character's motivations were underdeveloped. The romantic Mills and Boon ending also added to the feel the whole thing trivialized the seriousness and tragedy of the French resistance. Among other situations, it was hard to understand why the ‘underground' resistance fighter (Billy Crudup) would attract attention by screaming hateful abuse --in broad daylight-- while the German army was rolling through the streets of collaborating Vichy! Out of all, Michael Gambon fairs best as his father. It's a pity this serious subject was largely glossed over.

I'm a little perplexed at the mostly negative response. Yeah the screenplay could have used a little polishing but overall it is a mature thriller with excellent performances.

If you're especially interested in female spies during WWII, you'll enjoy this film. Critics find it dull and plodding, but there are so few films about these female spies that I believe it's really worth watching. If you enjoy it, you might also enjoy the novel Charlotte Gray. If you'd like to watch a film about the same time period and want to see 3 female spies, instead of one, then opt for the more recent film "A Call to Spy" which also features the exploits of an American female spy, who spied for Britain because America was not yet in the war. It is a less commercial film and amazingly enough this American female spy had a wooden leg and had to hike through the the mountain range separating France from Spain. (the Pyrenees)

Very well played. The ending wrapped up too quickly and they could / shoukd have filled in details from 1944-45 in the lives of the main character.

great movie. very sad though.

best movie ever love cate

This movie has given me four tingles and I'm only half through it. It's too real. The tingle is what you get when you think you're sober but you see art that wakes you up. Now why did the critics in 2002 not want you to see this movie? Because 2001 had "changed the world forever" which meant, "From now on, don't ask questions." This movie asks them and answers them. To summarize, let me quote Aquinas: war is so morally problematic, only the best people should engage in it.

Average war stuff starring Cate Blanchett. A little insight into the SOE.

Not a bad war movie/love story thriller about a woman who is so enamored with a soldier she falls in love with during the war, and when he's captured, becomes a spy to not only help France, but to also look for her soldier love! Sort of crazy yes, but it's remarkably calm. Blanchett and Crudup are fine, but Michael Gambon, as usual, steals the show.

The story is good, the pace is slower than molasses in June at the beginning, but then it picks up a little. I'm a HUGE Cate Blanchett fan, but this movie takes a while to get into. I've seen better WWII dramas, but it's always fascinating to me seeing the 'other side' of the war: the Resistance. Intense at times. About 20-30 mins too long, but overall, it was just OK. Sloppy ending...you don't know for sure what happened to the kids (although one can presume they didn't survive the war), the old man or the lady they took at the beginning.

Always interesting to watch, Cate Blanchett does her best here, and it's set up as a spy adventure romance. Solid acting, decent script, and incredible locations with an evenly set intensity create a good film set during WWII. But, it's undone by some things that make it appealing: -beautiful cinematography makes it seem glossy and almost dreamlike, -filmed entirely in English with few accents makes it a bit emotionally hollow, -the strong dramatic performances are well pitched yet come across as slick here, and -despite the underpinnings of wartime intensity this is light and bloodless for a war movie. It could have been marketed as a tween romance and maybe rivaled the later vapid vampire craze, but I need to emphasize the acting is superb here, yet tainted by some of its other elements. Worth a look. 3 out of 5

I found some of the characters less than believable, but not sure why!

A disappointing film in which most of the characters display a tendency to selfishness. The boy demands jam when there is none. Julien wants his communist ideals put first. Her handler is clearly in it for himself - unapoligetically. Dominique is in France for her own agenda - a bizarre and implausible idea to track down her one-night stand RAF boyfriend lost, presumed dead, whilst on a mission. This she abandons after the war in favour of her true love, Julien. A plot that often lacks credibility, not to mention much action.

Cate Blanchett salva a este film.

Cate Blanchett carries an otherwise slow film But still quite a good film could have been so much better with a more realistic theme.

CHARLOTTE GRAY gives us an intense, action-packed film about a World War 2 heroine who risks her life to fight for her country. As she is fighting the bad guys, and overcoming the loss of her lover, Charlotte Gray risks everything to save those most important to her.