It's 1940 Berlin. Army Capt. Stefan Brandt (Jai Courtney) is on the outs after an incident during the Poland invasion. He is sent to Holland to guard former Kaiser Wilhelm II (Christopher Plummer). He follows the victorious advancing German forces to find the former ruler bitter at his losses and his wife Hermine (Janet McTeer) eagerly pushing for the monarchy to be reinstalled. Colonel Sigurd von Ilsemann (Ben Daniels) is the chief of staff and Mieke de Jong (Lily James) is the new maid. Gestapo Inspector Dietrich is searching for a British spy suspected to be in the nearby village. The situation comes to a head when SS Commander Heinrich Himmler arrives to meet Wilhelm.
It's an interesting wartime espionage film until Mieke essentially reveals her situation to Stefan. I assumed that she was playing him but apparently the movie was about her falling in love with him. I don't buy this central premise and that does irk me for the rest of the movie. In order to sell him as the Exception, the Poland incident really needs to be the first scene. The movie needs to make him the hero of the piece. I'm not necessarily a fan of Jai but that is all on the movie. Lily James does the best she can and there are some great veteran actors around. They make this better than its worth.
It's an interesting wartime espionage film until Mieke essentially reveals her situation to Stefan. I assumed that she was playing him but apparently the movie was about her falling in love with him. I don't buy this central premise and that does irk me for the rest of the movie. In order to sell him as the Exception, the Poland incident really needs to be the first scene. The movie needs to make him the hero of the piece. I'm not necessarily a fan of Jai but that is all on the movie. Lily James does the best she can and there are some great veteran actors around. They make this better than its worth.