Rating:
Director: Michael Apted
Producer: Mick Jagger, Lorne Michaels
Writers: Tom Stoppard (based on the novel by Robert Harris)
Director of Photography: Seamus McGarvey
Cast: Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Jeremy Northam, Saffron Burrows
| ENIGMA Rating: Director: Michael Apted Producer: Mick Jagger, Lorne Michaels Writers: Tom Stoppard (based on the novel by Robert Harris) Director of Photography: Seamus McGarvey Cast: Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Jeremy Northam, Saffron Burrows |
|
Review by: Warren
Curry
4/21/02
Enigma, based on the novel by Robert Harris, is a solid, well made film on just about every level (save the screenplay). From the direction, to the acting, to the cinematography, to the editing, it's all competently and efficiently done. I was so excited by this professionalism that I had to pinch myself every 20 minutes to stop from falling asleep. Enigma's story is convoluted, but not in an intriguing way that keeps you on your toes, inviting every new scene as a further piece to the puzzle. Rather, the film is just tepid and uninspired; it's not terrible, but certainly not any good. And just how strange is it that Mick Jagger and Lorne Michaels produced this?
The movie takes us to England circa 1943. 60 miles north of London in Bletchley Park, a group of Britain's top code breakers work to solve a new code, known as Enigma, that the Nazis have devised for their U-Boats. Unfortunately, not much progress is being made, so the Brits call in Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott), a man who had previously suffered a breakdown due to the mental torture bestowed upon him by his beautiful ex-lover and co-worker Claire (Saffron Burrows), who has since gone missing. As Tom tries desperately to not only break the code, but also find out what has happened to Claire, he becomes close with a friend of the woman's named Hester (Kate Winslet), and the two grow to work as a team. Suspicious of the duo is Wigram (Jeremy Northam), an intelligence operative, who thinks the two know more about Claire's disappearance than they are willing to reveal and, furthermore, believes that the missing beauty may be double crossing the Allied forces.
I haven't read Harris's novel, but I would hope it gives more explanation into the intricacies of code breaking than this film, which appears to believe that all audience members have had some prior experience with the subject (I almost applied for a job as a military code breaker in college, but opted for the more challenging field of pizza delivery). The narrative structure cuts from real time to flashback with no warning, which isn't necessarily hard to follow, but helps add to the overall feeling of confusion. It took me a good 45 minutes to realize that I wasn't entirely following what was going on, and then another 30 seconds to come to the conclusion that I didn't much care. None of the characters warrant any investment and the story decides that it can jog from plot point to plot point with little elucidation.
The acting is fine, except when Scott is forced to spit out some truly terrible dialogue, and the breakdown he suffers when Claire leaves him almost crosses the border into parody. Northam, although a good actor, has made his most serious impression by now appearing in two of the more dull films I've seen in the past 6 months (this and Gosford Park). I must say though, how nice it is to see that Winslet hasn't taken the fame she received from Titanic to appear in more formulaic films. She's a smart, talented actress, who should continue to have a very fulfilling and successful career.
Apted's direction is polished enough to make me want to rush to the video store and rent the new Special Edition Blood Sucking Freaks DVD. He completely succeeds at turning a lifeless and confusing script into an equally lifeless and confusing film. The production values are so good that I'll take time here to give praise to the gaffer and best boy for their extraordinary work. And not since Pearl Harbor has a re-recording mixer done such a superlative job. It's all so professional and totally meaningless, despite the fact that a few title cards (and the guy who did those was fabulous too) at the end of the film place the Bletchley Park code breakers in their proper (i.e. important) historical context -- they deserved a better movie.
The one code Enigma forced me to break
was how to keep my eyes open for the film's duration. When the
going got tough, I dug down deep and emerged from the theater
triumphant.
Agree? Disagree? Talk about it in the forums.
|
|
|
|
|