Butler's Cinema Scene

Jai Courtney, Lily James

“THE EXCEPTION” My rating: B-  

107 minutes | MPAA rating: R

At 88 years of age, Christopher Plummer just keeps getting better.

In “The Exception” he portrays an historic figure — Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany — and pretty much mops up the floor with actors half his age.

The premise of David Leveaux’s directing debut finds a young German officer — Capt. Stefan Brandt (Jai Courtney) — assigned to the thankless task of heading the household guard for Wilhelm II (Plummer), who has lived in exile in the Netherlands since abdicating the German throne two decades earlier after losing World War I.

Though the Nazi hierarchy has little use for the old man, Wilhelm still is regarded by some members of the German public as a beloved figurehead.  It would be a p.r. black eye should he be lost to an assassin or kidnapped by the Allies and spirited off to England. Brandt’s presence is meant to prevent that.

For the young officer — who was wounded in the invasion of Poland — the assignment is a bit of an insult. Wilhelm and his wife, Princess Hermine (Janet McTeer), live as high as they can on the cash Hitler’s henchmen provide, all the while dreaming of restoring the monarchy and once again wearing the crown.  Brandt is expected to tolerate their pretensions without encouraging them.

There’s one bright spot in this assignment. The Kaiser has a new housemaid, Mieke (Lily James), who catches the Captain’s eye.  Before long they are having a grand old time despite Hermine’s rule against copulation among members of the staff.

Christopher Plummer

The screenplay by Simon Burke and Alan Judd starts to gel with the news that there may be a British agent in the area.

Brandt’s suspicions inevitably turn to Mieke, who has revealed that she is Jewish.  The question is, will he turn on his paramour (which is what a good German officer would see as his duty), or will he be the rare exception who would risk all for the woman he loves?

Hovering above the fray is Plummer’s Wilhelm — charming, volcanic, scheming, yet ultimately clueless about the thugs who now run his country.

Making nearly as big an impression is Eddie Marsan, clearly relishing his role as Nazi bigwig Heinrich Himmler, who shows up to make an official state visit, air his plans for dealing with “undesirables” in the conquered territories, and set in motion an elaborate trap to weed out closet monarchists in the German ruling class.

Some sex, some suspense, some interesting history.

| Robert W. Butler