SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT
***
Director: Andy Goddard
Screenplay: Celyn Jones, Eddie Izzard and Andy Goddard, based on a story by Eddie Izzard and Celyn Jones.
Principal cast:
Eddie Izzard
Judi Dench
Jim Broadbent
James D'Arcy
Carla Juri
Celyn Jones
Country: UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 99 mins.
Australian release date: 22 April 2021.
Six Minutes To Midnight, directed by Andy Goddard, is a spy movie focussed on the true story of the Augusta-Victoria College for girls, in the provincial town of Bexhill-on-Sea on the south coast of England, a finishing school for the daughters of high-ranking Nazis and influential Germans in the 1930s. The curriculum consisted of English language lessons, mixed with a bit of Shakespeare and a lot of indoctrination into the philosophy of Hitler’s League of German Girls. It was established in 1934 to train the young National Socialists for marriage to elite and powerful Englishmen, the idea being that, by infiltrating British society, they could influence their husbands in favour of Hitler and the Third Reich. The school badge featured a Swastika in one corner, the German imperial flag in the other and a Union Jack in the middle.
In the film, the college is run by an English governess, Miss Rocholl (played by Judi Dench; in real-life, Frau Rocholl was German and a committed Nazi), and her assistant Ilse Keller (Swiss actress Carla Juri). Here, Miss Rocholl is portrayed as being slightly starry-eyed about Anglo/German friendship and Fraulein Keller a passionate advocate for the Nazi regime. Six Minutes To Midnight begins in August 1939, when the school’s situation was becoming untenable because the Second World War was looming just across the English Channel. When a teacher mysteriously disappears, substitute teacher Thomas Miller (Eddie Izzard) arrives at the college to replace him but, before very long, Keller begins to suspect that he is no ordinary educator and she has reason to consider him a threat to her activities. When another man is shot, Miller becomes the key suspect for the murder and must try to stay at liberty until he gets to the bottom of what is really going on at Miss Rocholl’s Augusta-Victoria College for girls.
Andy Goddard mainly works in television and Six Minutes To Midnight has more than a whiff of tele-movie about it; it’s engaging but by no means edge-of-your-seat, heart-in-your-mouth thrilling. The film starts promisingly enough but quickly enters the realm of bog-standard WWII spy story and you can’t help but think that this coincides with the arrival of Eddie Izzard. She (according to Wikipedia, Izzard is genderfluid and has said she prefers ‘she’ and ‘her’ pronouns, but “[doesn't] mind ‘he’ and ‘him’”) can deliver terrific supporting characters but her thespian skills aren’t up to carrying off a leading role, especially when she is in almost every scene (cf. Aussie film The Flip Side). For one thing, her expressions change little, even when she is in highly dramatic or downright dangerous situations. In addition to her screenwriting credit, her story credit and her acting credit, she is also credited as one of the film’s executive producers and was responsible for the plot’s genesis - the star’s family is from Bexhill-on-Sea and she spent her formative years there and the idea first came to her when she was visiting the local museum and was shown the college’s badge - so one suspects that Goddard was too reticent to give her notes on her performance. Dench, of course, needs no help to provide a convincing characterisation but this is a lesser role for her. The production values are excellent and the pre-war period is recreated very well.
As spy thrillers go, Six Minutes To Midnight is somewhat disappointing and the script gets downright silly towards the end. If you’re interested in this kind of fare, your money would be better spent going to see The Courier, also screening now. Benedict Cumberbatch could show Eddie Izzard a thing or two about how to handle foreign spies.
Screenplay: Celyn Jones, Eddie Izzard and Andy Goddard, based on a story by Eddie Izzard and Celyn Jones.
Principal cast:
Eddie Izzard
Judi Dench
Jim Broadbent
James D'Arcy
Carla Juri
Celyn Jones
Country: UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 99 mins.
Australian release date: 22 April 2021.
Six Minutes To Midnight, directed by Andy Goddard, is a spy movie focussed on the true story of the Augusta-Victoria College for girls, in the provincial town of Bexhill-on-Sea on the south coast of England, a finishing school for the daughters of high-ranking Nazis and influential Germans in the 1930s. The curriculum consisted of English language lessons, mixed with a bit of Shakespeare and a lot of indoctrination into the philosophy of Hitler’s League of German Girls. It was established in 1934 to train the young National Socialists for marriage to elite and powerful Englishmen, the idea being that, by infiltrating British society, they could influence their husbands in favour of Hitler and the Third Reich. The school badge featured a Swastika in one corner, the German imperial flag in the other and a Union Jack in the middle.
In the film, the college is run by an English governess, Miss Rocholl (played by Judi Dench; in real-life, Frau Rocholl was German and a committed Nazi), and her assistant Ilse Keller (Swiss actress Carla Juri). Here, Miss Rocholl is portrayed as being slightly starry-eyed about Anglo/German friendship and Fraulein Keller a passionate advocate for the Nazi regime. Six Minutes To Midnight begins in August 1939, when the school’s situation was becoming untenable because the Second World War was looming just across the English Channel. When a teacher mysteriously disappears, substitute teacher Thomas Miller (Eddie Izzard) arrives at the college to replace him but, before very long, Keller begins to suspect that he is no ordinary educator and she has reason to consider him a threat to her activities. When another man is shot, Miller becomes the key suspect for the murder and must try to stay at liberty until he gets to the bottom of what is really going on at Miss Rocholl’s Augusta-Victoria College for girls.
Andy Goddard mainly works in television and Six Minutes To Midnight has more than a whiff of tele-movie about it; it’s engaging but by no means edge-of-your-seat, heart-in-your-mouth thrilling. The film starts promisingly enough but quickly enters the realm of bog-standard WWII spy story and you can’t help but think that this coincides with the arrival of Eddie Izzard. She (according to Wikipedia, Izzard is genderfluid and has said she prefers ‘she’ and ‘her’ pronouns, but “[doesn't] mind ‘he’ and ‘him’”) can deliver terrific supporting characters but her thespian skills aren’t up to carrying off a leading role, especially when she is in almost every scene (cf. Aussie film The Flip Side). For one thing, her expressions change little, even when she is in highly dramatic or downright dangerous situations. In addition to her screenwriting credit, her story credit and her acting credit, she is also credited as one of the film’s executive producers and was responsible for the plot’s genesis - the star’s family is from Bexhill-on-Sea and she spent her formative years there and the idea first came to her when she was visiting the local museum and was shown the college’s badge - so one suspects that Goddard was too reticent to give her notes on her performance. Dench, of course, needs no help to provide a convincing characterisation but this is a lesser role for her. The production values are excellent and the pre-war period is recreated very well.
As spy thrillers go, Six Minutes To Midnight is somewhat disappointing and the script gets downright silly towards the end. If you’re interested in this kind of fare, your money would be better spent going to see The Courier, also screening now. Benedict Cumberbatch could show Eddie Izzard a thing or two about how to handle foreign spies.