I was curious as to how this movie would play out. I enjoyed the film, but I was disappointed with the ending. With a different ending, I could have overlooked a lot of the other flaws. (Obviously this will include spoilers).
The story is somewhat basic--two operatives on a mission fall in love and get married. Then, one of them is revealed to be a spy for the Germans, though a reluctant one at that. Half of the film is devoted to developing Pitt and Cotillard's relationship. It starts with a thrilling mission in Casablanca and ends with their eventual marriage, birth of their daughter, and Pitt's humdrum life as a desk officer in British intelligence. The second half of the movie revolves around Pitt being briefed that his wife is a German spy and that he must cooperate in a "blue dye" operation to know for sure. Over the course of three days, he must act normal and go along with the operation. Pitt is told that if she is found to be a spy, he must execute her immediately, or they will both be executed. But he loves his wife and he wants to prove her innocent, so he goes to great lengths to get information ... only to find out that she is indeed not the person she claimed she was. But she loves him and she was only cooperating with the Germans out of coercion. Pitt decides to spirit his family out of the country (in a single engine plane that couldn't have taken them anywhere useful, except maybe Ireland) but they are stopped and Cotillard, knowing her husband won't pull the trigger, shoots herself after confessing her love and telling Pitt that he must take care of their daughter. The end of the film is the verbal reading of a letter Cotillard wrote on her last day with her family (she knew she'd be caught).
This ending really left a hollow feeling in me. It would have been better if Cotillard had somehow been saved. Indeed, there is historical precedent that the movie ignored.
The whole "you must execute her on the spot!" thing was contrived. The British routinely turned German agents into double agents. Only the most hardened of spies who refused to turn would have been executed, and even then, most were imprisoned. Cotillard would have eagerly agreed to work as a double. It would have been a nice ending if she passed fraudulent reports to the Germans in the lead-up to D- Day, thus "saving the day."
In reality, by the time D-Day kicked off, all of Germany's spies in the UK had been rolled up (either executed, imprisoned, or turned), so the whole notion that Cotillard's character would have been working for a German network is pure fiction.
It's also fiction that Pitt (who is in his 50s) would be a "field man." At his age and with his rank, he would have been a senior officer working out of England, not parachuting into Morocco.
And if Cotillard was suspected as a spy, Pitt would have also been investigated. He would not have been told to go along with this scheme. Why? Because of what we saw in the film. He would have been emotionally compromised. Therefore, the first Pitt would have heard of this would have been when she was arrested and he along with her. They would have interrogated him and ensured that he wasn't a witting accomplice.
It was later stated in the film that the ambassador they assassinated in the beginning of a film was actually a dissident whom Hitler wanted killed. If so, Hitler would have just recalled the man and executed him in Berlin. He would not have allowed some long-odds intelligence operation to go forth in which he'd lose a number of SS and Abwehr officers. In short, there would be easier ways to get an agent into the British network.
Anyway, I wanted to like this film better. If they had given it a happier ending, I would have. I thought the whole "Allied" title might be a nod towards how a husband and wife are allied together.
The story is somewhat basic--two operatives on a mission fall in love and get married. Then, one of them is revealed to be a spy for the Germans, though a reluctant one at that. Half of the film is devoted to developing Pitt and Cotillard's relationship. It starts with a thrilling mission in Casablanca and ends with their eventual marriage, birth of their daughter, and Pitt's humdrum life as a desk officer in British intelligence. The second half of the movie revolves around Pitt being briefed that his wife is a German spy and that he must cooperate in a "blue dye" operation to know for sure. Over the course of three days, he must act normal and go along with the operation. Pitt is told that if she is found to be a spy, he must execute her immediately, or they will both be executed. But he loves his wife and he wants to prove her innocent, so he goes to great lengths to get information ... only to find out that she is indeed not the person she claimed she was. But she loves him and she was only cooperating with the Germans out of coercion. Pitt decides to spirit his family out of the country (in a single engine plane that couldn't have taken them anywhere useful, except maybe Ireland) but they are stopped and Cotillard, knowing her husband won't pull the trigger, shoots herself after confessing her love and telling Pitt that he must take care of their daughter. The end of the film is the verbal reading of a letter Cotillard wrote on her last day with her family (she knew she'd be caught).
This ending really left a hollow feeling in me. It would have been better if Cotillard had somehow been saved. Indeed, there is historical precedent that the movie ignored.
The whole "you must execute her on the spot!" thing was contrived. The British routinely turned German agents into double agents. Only the most hardened of spies who refused to turn would have been executed, and even then, most were imprisoned. Cotillard would have eagerly agreed to work as a double. It would have been a nice ending if she passed fraudulent reports to the Germans in the lead-up to D- Day, thus "saving the day."
In reality, by the time D-Day kicked off, all of Germany's spies in the UK had been rolled up (either executed, imprisoned, or turned), so the whole notion that Cotillard's character would have been working for a German network is pure fiction.
It's also fiction that Pitt (who is in his 50s) would be a "field man." At his age and with his rank, he would have been a senior officer working out of England, not parachuting into Morocco.
And if Cotillard was suspected as a spy, Pitt would have also been investigated. He would not have been told to go along with this scheme. Why? Because of what we saw in the film. He would have been emotionally compromised. Therefore, the first Pitt would have heard of this would have been when she was arrested and he along with her. They would have interrogated him and ensured that he wasn't a witting accomplice.
It was later stated in the film that the ambassador they assassinated in the beginning of a film was actually a dissident whom Hitler wanted killed. If so, Hitler would have just recalled the man and executed him in Berlin. He would not have allowed some long-odds intelligence operation to go forth in which he'd lose a number of SS and Abwehr officers. In short, there would be easier ways to get an agent into the British network.
Anyway, I wanted to like this film better. If they had given it a happier ending, I would have. I thought the whole "Allied" title might be a nod towards how a husband and wife are allied together.