neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Charlotte Gray
	Gillian Armstrong Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon 2002		Chameleon-like leading lady Cate Blanchett has graced numerous fine films with her consummate acting skills. She's had great taste in choosing projects (from "Elizabeth" to "The Talented Mr. Ripley" to "Lord of the Rings"), until she chose to do this clinker. It's sadly reminiscent of the unintentionally laughable Melanie Griffith vehicle "Shining Through," wherein the squeaky-voiced ditz played an Allied spy in Nazi Germany. "Charlotte Gray" is better than that, thanks to Blanchett's work as a British nurse who falls in love with an RAF pilot at a party in 1942 during the London blitz. When the flyboy is shot down over France, Charlotte decides to join British Intelligence, parachute behind enemy lines, masquerade as a mademoiselle in a beret to help the French Resistance against the Axis — and find her beloved. Quelle merde! Billy Crudup ("Almost Famous"), a fine actor, is gravely miscast as a Resistance fighter and other love interest for Charlotte. The reliable Michael Gambon, faring better, plays his papa.