ENIGMA
UK 2001, CERT. 15
DIRECTOR: MICHAEL APTED
Star Rating * * * 1/2
In 1943, mathematical genius
Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott) returns to work at Bletchley Park,
a secret British intelligence centre during the war. Tom,
still tortured after a recent nervous breakdown, has been
brought back to break a new German signalling code and save a
convoy of Allied ships crossing the Atlantic. There are
suspicions of an enemy spy within Bletchley Park, and Tom's
former girlfriend Claire (Saffron Burrows) has mysteriously
disappeared. After finding hidden coded papers, Tom, and
Claire's housemate Hester (Kate Winslet) investigate.
Adapted from Robert Harris's novel by Tom Stoppard, the
screenplay does a fine job of explaining the intricacies of
the Enigma machine (a German coding device), and the Bletchley
Park setting is fascinating. Dougray Scott's performance as a
vulnerable working-class mathematician is so intense that we
begin to fear for his sanity, while Kate Winslet excels as a
sensible, brainy type of 1940s gal in heavy spectacles. The
whole film indeed feels like a 1940s type of espionage
thriller, and director Michael Apted may well have over-egged
the pudding by throwing in just about every WW2 spy cliché
known to cinema - likeable pipe-smoking public school chaps,
twittering eccentric geniuses, a suspicious foreigner, a
beautiful but untrustworthy woman, a vintage car chase with
police bells clanging, a frantic train carriage search, even a
secret rendezvous with a German U-boat in the Scottish
highlands. However, despite feeling at times like a Famous
Five adventure, Enigma is good, solid entertainment and a
ripping yarn to boot.
Odeon and UGC from Sept 28
AMELIE
FRANCE/GERMANY 2001, CERT. 15
DIRECTOR: JEAN-PIERRE JEUNOT
STAR RATING * * * 1/2
 In Paris, Amelie (Audrey Tautou)
is born to rather eccentric, repressed parents and grows up
without the company of other children. She develops a highly
fantasised view of the world, and plays with imaginary
friends.
In 1997, as a young woman,
Amelie's naïve and unusual view of life remains. One day,
finding a 1950s tin containing a child's treasures, she
decides to track down the owner. Remaining anonymous, she
returns it to the child, now a middle-aged man, who is
overjoyed. Encouraged, Amelie decides to continue doing good
deeds for others. In due course, she realises that she has
fallen in love with a strange man who hangs around photo
booths. She pursues him but is too shy to approach
face-to-face.
This feel-good romance, from
the director of Delicatessen, was a huge hit in France and has
been compared by some to Life is Beautiful. The lead
characters in both films do share the same traits - a dreamy
view of life, a childlike innocence and unfailing optimism.
The whole piece is perfectly photographed and features a host
of surprising little special effects in the shape of animal
clouds, talking objects, patches of x-ray vision, and there's
an excellent lead performance from the doe-eyed Audrey Tautou.
However, the film's meandering pace grows wearying, and those
not charmed by the ever-smiling Amelie will soon be bored and
even irritated by her. Ultimately this is a long, sweet film
sprinkled with some heavenly magical moments. Delightful
perhaps, but not to everyone's taste.
Duke of York's, Odeon and
UGC from Oct 5
copyright New Insight 2001
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