Cinematic resonances add to ‘Allied’s’ allure

Marion Cotillard and Brad Pitt

Despite his current marital woes, Brad Pitt’s stellar acting career has been flying high, thanks to his astute choice of challenging roles that sternly prevent him from resting on his laurels.

Pitt’s latest starrer, “Allied,” is a particularly great choice, because it gives him and costar Marion Cotillard truly daunting characters to portray.

The film by Robert Zemeckis is set in Casablanca during World War II, and both leads play spies who pretend to be married and are assigned to assassinate the German ambassador to Morocco.

It’s an exceedingly risky mission with a decidedly iffy outcome, but the spies stare death in the face—and pull it off.

Right off the bat, the fact that the film’s plot is set in Casablanca vividly calls to mind the iconic ’40s war film topbilling Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.

The stirringly iconic reference imbues this new production with subtle resonances that add to its special allure.

In truth, the two films are quite different in plot and tone, but they do share the rare plus point of starring famous actors at the peak of their talent and fame.

In any case, “Allied” doesn’t end in Casablanca, but continues its storytelling in London, where Pitt and Cotillard’s characters get married, have a precious child and look forward to a simple and happy life together, until they’re old and beautifully grey.

However, a “cruel” plot twist suddenly wrenches them apart, as tragic questions are raised about Cotillard’s character’s true identity and essence.

No further details will be forthcoming in this guarded appreciation, for fear of letting the tragic cat out of the bag. But, what happens to the loving couple is truly heartrending, and makes viewers question the nature and “reliability” of love itself!

Aside from the deft and ultimately tragic plotting, what makes “Allied” a special viewing treat are the top-level portrayals that it elicits from its leads and ensemble players.

Cotillard has always been known to be an excellent actress, which is why she’s busy as a bee in front of the movie camera, acting in as many as four films each season.

In her new starrer, however, she comes off best of all, because she uncharacteristically plays a beautiful and vivacious character, and consequently has an especially empathetic effect on viewers.

For his part, Pitt has sometimes dissipated his stellar looks and charisma in “idiosyncratic” character roles, to prove that he’s more than just a pretty face.

Happily, in “Allied,” he’s secure enough in his already firmly established thespic worth that he “allows” himself to—look great.

At the same time, he wisely imbues his character with a compelling patina of sadness and regret that kicks in even before life deals him a series of really low blows.

It’s the perfect “humanizing” touch that colors and caps his tragic portrayal in “Allied,” which should be cited as one of the best films he’s made.