The Exception [DVD]

Based on Alan Judd's fine novel, "The Kaiser's Last Kiss", this is an old-fashioned adventure yarn set during World War II rather than a war film. The basic premise has a disillusioned Wehrmacht captain, Brandt, ordered to act as security officer to Kaiser Wilhelm, following the Dutch capitulation in 1941. His job is made more difficult by the threat of a British agent in the vicinity and the Kaiser's naive belief that Hitler is about to restore the German monarchy. What follow are a series of dexterously handled scenes in which we get to witness the Kaiser's gradual understanding that he has no place within the Nazi regime, an examination of loyalty and a burgeoning romance. The latter should be completely redundant in a film like this yet is given life by its protagonists. What we are given are an exciting couple of hours of genuinely exciting bluff and counter-bluff. The performances are uniformly very good with not a weak link to be found. The two juvenile leads are very appealing with the lovely Lily James going from strength to strength and Jai Courtney finally achieving the leading-man status he has long deserved. Of course, the acting laurels go to veteran Christopher Plummer, who I used to find quite smug when I was growing up. Whether it's to do with his advanced age, or my own, I can now appreciate the subtleties of his craft. He is ably abetted by the ever-wonderful Janey McTeer (in a seemingly unsympathetic role) and the cool gravitas of Ben Miles. A telling cameo by the brilliant Eddie Marsan adds to the overall effect. Some interesting moral qyestions are raised in this film ( reference to Nietzche's "Beyond Good and Evil" being made) but it doesn't purport to be be anything other than a classy tale of derring-do. Genuinely exciting at times, genuinely moving at others, this is a movie in the mould of "The Eagle has Landed" or "The Spy in Black" rather than "The Thin Red Line". In many ways, I preferred this slightly to the novel on which it was based as the protagonists were fleshed out very well.

This film was actually better than I was expecting, Christopher Plummer is at his best as the delusioned Kaiser shifting character from a kindly grandfather to that of a autocrat given to savage outbursts when WW1 and it's post war effects on the German population (hyper inflation) crops up in conversation.One other performance that stands out is that of Eddie Marsans chilling performance of Himmler calmly discussing murder and the search for the final solution over dinner.The film itself is well worth watching but a little background information such as how the Kaiser came to be in Holland would help, I don't know how much of this is actually based on fact but the offer from Churchill is true!

Ok.. So here's the thing.. I liked the movie.. it was an interesting love story of a jew and a nazi.. right... but something about it bothered me and the only way I can sum it up is this: it was... glitchy in it's storytelling? There were moments where I was like, wait what just happened? It was all a bit random like I'd fallen asleep and missed something and now this part didn't make a huge amount of sense. Like *spoiler alert* the bit where they meet the first time and do the dirty... It's a bit forward... I didn't see any spark develop between them and suddenly they're telling eachother to strip and having a merry go at it.. and I'm pretty sure that was 5 minutes into the whole movie.. That's just one example but overall it was an interesting premise, great actors and some slightly explicit nudity (like full frontal male nudity which is fine by me but just unexpected).

I wasn't sure what 'The Exception' was all about and bought it because it had some of my favourite actors in it. As a Second World War film, I found it interesting because it highlighted an aspect little known - the position of exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II (emperor of Germany at the beginning of the First World War) who was living in luxury in Doorn House near Utrecht in the Netherlands. The story focuses on a romance between the Kaiser's SS guard and a maid who turns out to be not only Jewish, but a spy for the British (since the Nazis killed her husband and brother). The story is not entirely convincing but Lily James does a good job as the maid, Mieke. Christopher Plummer plays the ex-Kaiser and Janet McTeer his wife Hermine, the latter scared and tense with their vulnerable situation and determined to indicate loyalty to Hitler although neither she nor the ex-Kaiser are really in favour of the new regime but hope for a restoration of the monarchy. Plummer (at 85) is excellent as the slightly-mad, obsessive man who once ruled a vast empire and thought he was invincible. McTeer is marvellous, supporting her husband, covering up his tactlessness, displaying courtesy to Nazi visitors (particularly the terrifying Himmler) but the audience is well-aware of her stress and strain. Eddie Marsan has a cameo as Himmler and truly brings a sense of serious menace to this ghastly figure of Nazi persecution. The dinner table scene with Himmler is perhaps the most dramatic in the film, where the anti-semitism of both the Kaiser and his wife and the Nazi is discussed, but where the royal couple draw back from the extremism Himmler displays. The devilish irony of the Jewish maid standing in the background, having to serve these awful people adds poignancy.While this is not a brilliant film, it has its moments and throws an interesting light on an obscure bit of WWII history (though it was in fact Goering, not Himmler, who actually visited the ex-Kaiser in Utrecht). Lily James and Jai Courtney play their parts respectably but their infatuation and the denouement are unrealistic. Worth watching for what must be one of Christopher Plummer's last roles.