18 Dec Charlotte Gray
Charlotte Gray, WWII Movie starring Cate Blanchett
(2001) Charlotte Gray is a young Scottish girl who travels to London in 1942 and ends up working for the SOE, the British organization which corresponded to our country’s OSS. The SOE has agents in all Axis-occupied countries. Charlotte had spent her childhood in France so she ends up there, working with the resistance.
I am so intrigued by the stories of WWII France … Sarah’s Key, Au revoir, les enfants, Odette, The Train, just to name a few, and that is why this is a favorite.
The film is based on the 1999 book Charlotte Gray by British author Sebastian Faulks. I was curious as to his connection to WWII France and read that his grandfather was a decorated soldier in the British army during the first World War. Then his father became a commander in the British army and saw action in several countries including France. Faulk’s father wanted him to become a diplomat but he became a novelist instead.
In 2008 Faulks published, at the request of the Ian Fleming family, the thirty-sixth James Bond novel. Ian Fleming, of course, was the British intelligence officer who went on to create the fiction spy James Bond. Here is Faulks himself talking about his experience writing Devil May Care.
On the official Charlotte Gray website, I read a section on what it was like for some of the real life resistance fighters. There was no one named “Charlotte Gray” but the character is a compilation of several of the women who went into France for the SOE. Right after the movie came out London newspapers reported on the death of one of these secret agents. What this lady endured was worse than our Charlotte.
Charlotte Gray was filmed in France, England, and Scotland. It was not a financial success for its production company. I enjoyed it as much as Sarah’s Key, although “enjoy” doesn’t seem to be the right word. This was a period of time in our world when children and adults alike were murdered with abandon.
So let’s say that I watched it with great interest and trepidation along with a few tears.
Charlotte Gray at amazon.com
Charlotte Gray (novel) at amazon.com
Devil May Care (novel) at amazon.com
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