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The Exception

2016

David Leveaux

Jai Courtney, Lily James, Christopher Plummer, Eddie Marsan ...

5.9

1,470

Drama A German soldier tries to determine if the Dutch resistance has planted a spy to infiltrate the home of Kaiser Wilhelm in Holland during the onset of World War II, but falls for a young Jewish Dutch woman during his investigation.

	Author	Review
United States	Leslie Felperin The Hollywood Reporter	"A competent if calculated WWII-set drama (...) this adaptation of Alan Judd’s novel The Kaiser’s Last Kiss plays like a more insipid version of 'Black Book'"	NEU
United States	A. O. Scott The New York Times	"'The Exception' is a diverting and occasionally exciting film, though it is rarely disturbing or thought-provoking in ways the material might require (...) [Plummer] might also have deserved a tougher, riskier, more robust movie"	NEU
United States	David Edelstein Vulture	"The superb English stage director David Leveaux keeps the pacing taut while creating space for his actors to work their magic (...) [Plummer] is smart enough to show the kaiser’s ennoblement side by side"	POS
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Christopher Plummer is regal, lion-in-winter fun in 'The Exception', but otherwise this is a fairly unremarkable World War II drama"	NEU
United States	Dave White The Wrap	"Whatever nuance existed in the original novel (...) is reduced here to not-quite-suspenseful-enough plot points and an impossible forbidden romance that makes almost no sense"	NEG
United States	Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times	"A handsomely mounted World War II-era romantic thriller, enlivened by vibrant performances and vivid sexual encounters and inspired by a little-known footnote to history"	POS
United States	Christopher Gray Slant	"David Leveaux’s film cannily incorporates elements of spycraft and sheer trash into a familiar formula (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Sam Weisberg Village Voice	"Whenever Plummer is onscreen, 'The Exception' is scintillating entertainment. Unfortunately, it gets bogged down in the rather lukewarm romance between the captain and a British"	NEU
United States	Richard Lawson Vanity Fair	"Leveaux’s film occasionally risks stuffiness, but he cuts that with a few truly sexy sex scenes, and enough tension and intrigue to deliver a satisfying, cathartic payoff."	POS

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