Set in the early years of World War II, “The Exception” is a
glossy, romantic melodrama loosely inspired by Alan Judd’s novel, “The
Kaiser’s Last Kiss.” Jai Courtney (“Suicide Squad”) plays Captain Stefan
Brandt, an officer of the S.S. assigned to the safety detail of Kaiser Wilhelm
II (a typically stellar Christopher Plummer), former German emperor, now living
exiled in Holland.
It’s made quite clear to Brandt by his superiors that if
anything happens to the Kaiser on his watch, he’ll be paying with his life.
It’s also stressed that the captain’s secondary duty will be to keep a close
eye on the mercurial Kaiser, paying particular attention to any unsavory opinions
the ex-leader might express in his presence about the Fรผhrer or his ongoing war
efforts.
Wilhelm is bitter, mourning his ruined reputation, and prone
to outbursts over his shabby treatment by the Reich. Meanwhile the Kaiser’s
wife, Princess Hermine (Janet McTeer) is eager to
please, desperate to not let the last bit of power that’s still within her
grasp slip through her fingers. Wilhelm may also be in danger from a British
secret service agent, whom intel suggests may be lurking
somewhere in the nearby village.
Though instructed by the head of household that the “female
staff are not to be interfered with,” Brandt isn’t on the grounds for five
minutes before he’s making eyes at Mieke, a pretty
young housemaid played by Lily James. Drawn in by those dreamy Nazi baby blues,
she swings by his room after hours. He requests that she kindly remove her
clothes, and before they’ve even exchanged names, they’re off to the races.
Eventually Mieke reveals that she’s Jewish, setting
up a forbidden romance between the star-crossed lovers.
He’s haunted by recurring nightmares about when he was
accomplice to the massacre of an entire village of innocent Polish peasants,
carried out on orders from his fellow officers. In brief flashbacks, we see the
villagers’ corpses arranged in bloodless, artfully composed piles. During one
of his many nude, midnight conversations with Mieke,
Brandt opines that the officers who carried out this slaughter, “shame the
S.S.” Oh do tell. But she keeps a copy of Nietzsche’s “Beyond Good and Evil” on
her nightstand, so we know she’s down with shades of grey.
The feature debut of Tony Award-nominated theater director
David Leveaux, “The Exception” is reasonably engaging
and well-acted; Jai Courtney and Lily James (of Disney’s recent live-action
“Cinderella”) are certainly pretty to look at — and you do get more than an
eyeful of both throughout the course of the movie. Courtney acquits himself
well, flexing dramatic muscles (among others) he hasn’t had the opportunity to
show off in his previous screen roles.
Leveaux is clearly aiming more for
fantasy than anything even remotely resembling the realities of war. So maybe
if it weren’t for the renewed visibility for fascism and the diseased worldview
of its supporters, I might have more of a tolerance for diverting stories
asking us to sympathize with sexy, conflicted Nazis. But that’s not the climate
we’re in, and my sympathies still lie strictly with the Nazi punchers of the
world.
This article appears in Jun 21-27, 2017.
