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ENIGMA
Directed by: Michael Apted.
Produced by: Mick Jagger & Lorne Michaels.
Written by: Tom Stoppard, based on the novel by Robert Harris.
Director of Photography: Seamus McGarvey.
Edited by: Rick Shaine.
Music by: John Barry.
Released by: Colmbia/TriStar Video.
Country of Origin: UK/USA/Germany/Netherlands. 119 min. Rated: R.
With: Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, & Jeremy Northam.
DVD Features: Scene Selection. English & Spanish subtitles. Widescreen. Trailers.

The film’s title refers to both the German secret military code used in World War II and the mysterious disappearance of the blonde bombshell Claire (Saffron Burrows), a clerk at Bletchley Park, where the British successfully deciphered their enemy’s signals. After suffering a nervous breakdown, a young Cambridge mathematician, Jericho (Dougray Scott), is ordered to return to the top-secret compound after the Germans have suddenly silenced their communications. Meanwhile, an unprotected Allied convoy of cargo ships crossing the North Atlantic heads towards the largest massing of U-boats. Without the means to eavesdrop, the Allies have no idea where the submarines lie. While on the alert for German signals to intercept, Jericho discovers that his former lover has vanished without a trace. He fears that the loss of the signals and her disappearance may be connected. Hoping to find her before she possibly commits treason, he reluctantly accepts of the aid of her dowdy roommate Hester (Kate Winslet).

At times the film succeeds as a historical epic cum thriller: crosscutting between an impending confrontation on the sea; the surreptitious sleuthing in autumnal England; and an ominous event occurring in Nazi occupied Eastern Europe. John Barry’s score creates a romantic and nostalgic atmosphere, but Winslet is the highlight as she literally blossoms from an obedient office girl to a determined investigator. However, much of the film’s technical exposition is lost through whispered dialogue. And the depiction of the core character is hindered by the one-note performance by Scott, who plays the role with an exhausted, vacant, glassy-eyed stare, portraying his mental condition, rather than a character. Unbelievably he turns into a daredevil hero in the film’s climatic chase sequence. And because Claire is depicted, in flashbacks, as such a heartless mercenary, it is hard to care for her fate or the outcome of the film. KT
May 1, 2003