Has an intoxicating, old-fashioned feel about it. We are instantly lost in the period, thanks to cinematographer Dion Beebe's almost haloed images and Joseph Bennett's authentic, restrained production design.

Charlotte Gray is not a subtle movie, but it is an honorable and surprisingly gripping one.

Lush, even juicy entertainment.

Cate Blanchett has the title role, and she does wonders with it, bringing a degree of passion but also suggesting something essentially unevolved in Charlotte's character.

Displays so much promise with its beautiful cinematography and superb portrayal by Cate Blanchett that you scarcely notice (or even care) that the story is a bit thin.

An old-fashioned romantic adventure film strongly acted, ably directed and written with stolid sobriety, the film feels, save for a few moments of verbal or physical intensity, as if it could have been made 60 years ago with Ingrid Bergman in the lead.

This is a movie that, for all its often high intelligence and skill, seems emotionally underdone, bogged down in tony literary and cinematic cliches.

From a purely technical perspective, Charlotte Gray is expertly made -- the cinematography and music are evocative, and lead actress Cate Blanchett has no problem holding our attention. But, while Armstrong gets the notes right, she fails to play them with inspiration.

The radiant Blanchett makes Charlotte's individual journey from lovelorn lady to independent woman believable and involving, and that's ultimately what counts the most -- even if the destination is less than ideal.

Not a movie, it's a museum catalog of gorgeously rendered portraits and landscapes. What a crashing disappointment.

A frustratingly inert story, a bookend to last year's wooden ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin.''

Armstrong is fortunate to have the luminous Blanchett, who, along with her equally fine supporting cast, helps compensate for what the film lacks.

The story has inherent emotional power, but Jeremy Brock's formula-bound screenplay rarely soars beyond cliches.

It's ultimately just numb, a sober wartime romance roused only by Blanchett's intensity and Crudup's passionate swings between righteous anger and moral zeal. The rest is just tired melodrama.