Brad Pitt, looking more like a catatonic veteran of battle than a future hero, arrives in Casablanca during World War II. The mission of Pitt’s Canadian officer Max is to pose as the French husband of undercover Resistance fighter Marianne (Marion Cottilard) and assassinate the German ambassador to Morocco. Marianne is very good at her job, and she coaches Max in dropping his Québécois accent for a Parisian one and adopting the ways of Moroccan husbands (post-coital trips to the roof to commune with the stars are apparently mandatory). The two get married for real and move to London, but when Marianne is suspected of being a German spy, Max must choose between the cause and his beloved wife.
Max is supposed to be a buttoned-up type, more comfortable in battle than romance, and it is never clear whether his inability to alter his facial expression to suit the situation is in keeping with character or is further evidence of Pitt’s late-career jadedness. The Hollywood superstar hasn’t been in a meaty role that demanded more from him than camera-friendliness since The Tree of Life (2011). In Allied, a movie that needed more crackle and fizz than director Robert Zemeckis is able to produce, Pitt looks wan, weary and defeated even before the battle has been fought, both on the front and at home.
Cotillard, the talented bilingual French actress, sparkles and outshines Pitt easily, but her character is underwritten and bereft of purpose once the seduction game is over. There are nods to beloved wartime romances, among them Casablanca and The English Patient, and there is a nifty suggestion that Marianne is modelled on the French character in Casablanca who defiantly sings the French national anthem La Marseillaise in a nightclub full of Nazis. The production design is suitably handsome, the costumes neatly pressed, whatever the occasion, and the attention to period detail typically rigorous.
The stars look fabulous together, but their mutual lack of frisson suggests that little is at stake. (The frequent censor cuts in the Indian release, often in the middle of scenes, further undermine any suggestion of raging passion). Allied barely works as a portrait of an unusual marriage in trying times and is only fleetingly effective as a suspense thriller. This war is over soon after it begins.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!