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The Exception

2016

David Leveaux

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

5.9

1,482

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.

	Media	Author	Review
		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'"
		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"
		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"
		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"
		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"
		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"
		Christopher Gray Slant	"David Leveaux’s film cannily incorporates elements of spycraft and sheer trash into a familiar formula (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		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"
		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."

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