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Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Summaries
Plot Summary
- During World War II, France has fallen to the Nazis and Great Britain stands alone. Churchill hastily creates a spy agency to create resistance behind enemy lines and conduct sabotage. The first spies are dropped behind enemy lines. In August, 1941, a woman is dragged into a cell by Nazi soldiers. She repeatedly has her head forcibly dunked into a bucket of water as the Nazis try to discern her identity. She continues to claim her name is Bridgett. Three months earlier, at the special executive offices of Special Operations in London, Christopher (Samuel Roukin) reports to his superior Maurice Buckmaster (Linus Roache) that another spy had been discovered and killed because he was carrying British cigarettes. Vera Atkins (Stana Katic) hustles into the office. Churchill has approved using women as spies and Atkins is dispatched to recruit pretty ladies to operate inside France. Meanwhile, American Virginia Hall (Sarah Megan Thomas) is rejected by her government to serve on the diplomatic corps because of her wooden leg. She lost her leg in a hunting accident. For years, she had hoped to become a diplomat. The United States did not believe diplomats could have wooden legs Virginia has been in Europe for years and now works as a clerk in London, still angling for something bigger. Virginia meets Vera Atkins by chance at a party in early 1941. Vera is recruiting women for an exclusive little "club," as she calls it, within Britain's fledgling secret service agency. Noor Inayat Khan (Radhika Apte), a wireless radio operator who is a Muslim Indian British citizen is also recruited. Born in Russia to an American mother and an Indian father, Noor looks small and fragile. Thanks to her Sufi beliefs, she is a pacifist. But she can send coded messages quickly and reliably, and Vera believes she will be a crack agent if given the chance. At a Scottish estate, the new recruits, male and female, are trained in espionage sabotage and survival skills. Noor and Virginia are roommates but only know each by their codenames: Madeline and Bridgett respectively. Virginia introduces Noor to her wooden leg she has named Cuthbert. Hall excels in her training and is advanced to more rigorous training. The head dunking incident in the baren room was a test of her ability to withstand torture. Afterwards, she agrees to be the first female agent. Posing as an American reporter, she will be dropped in unoccupied territory. Her mission is to create a central hub supplying agents with money, safe houses and whatever else they may need and supply the Baker Street headquarters with information about life in France to help their agency. In September 1941, Virginia arrives on Lyon France. Her first contact is Dr. Raul Chevain (Rossif Sutherland). Agent Alphonse (Andrew Richardson) is already on the ground as the wireless transmitter operator. Hall carries cyanide in case she is captured by the Nazis. In their first meeting, Dr. Chevain, he tells Virginia of an agent named James (Ben Chase) hidden away in a country home who shattered his leg when he parachuted for his assignment. Virginia is driven out to meet him and resolves to get him back to Britain. Hall first makes contact with Alfonse in a restaurant. She makes the mistake of ordering a gin on a Sunday and is questioned by authorities and asked to show her papers. Virginia then begins to recruit French citizens as members of the resistance. She also records the new laws the Germans are forcing the French to adopt including food rations, farm products quotas that must be given to the Germans, women's prohibition from buying cigarettes and the registration of the resident Jews. She and Alfonse find a landing strip to land a plane to rescue the injured agent. At headquarters, Atkins and Buckmaster debate inserting Noor in the field as a wireless operator. Noor is to be placed on the airplane that is to transport the injured agent. Noor bids farewell to her mother. Atkins watches the full moon rise in her home and her mother Hilda (Lola Pashalinski) believes Vera is longing for her boyfriend who is a soldier marked missing in action. Soon after, Noor codename Madeline transmits a signal from Virginia codename Bridgett and is nearly caught escaping out of the basement of the safehouse in which she was hiding. Virginia gets access to a nunnery by offering Sister Francis (Marceline Hugot) additional food coupons to hide their agents. Virginia meets Dr. Chevain for a meal and asks to hide Noor in a basement. At lunch, she tells the doctor how she lost her leg in a hunting accident. Virginia is able to taste a bit of chocolate for desert and receives a bit of soap, both luxuries in France. Virginia is astounded by the hatred of the Jews and how the Nazis control everything the French hear and read. As Virginia gets Noor situated at Chevain's home, Father Robert Alesche (Joe Doyle), famous for his anti-Nazi sermons, arrives seeking Bridgett's help. Bridgett overhears the priest and doctor's conversation and does not trust the authenticity of the priest. Meanwhile, Vera struggles with the British authorities when they uncover her identity as a Romanian Jew. Buckmaster assures her that she is indispensable to him even though England has declared war on Romania, Finland and Hungary. Vera's citizenship papers are denied. The United States enter the war on December 7th, 1941, after the Pearl Harbor attack. Virginia's cover is blown as Americans will no longer be allowed in France. Vera suggests a new identity and hairstyle for Virginia. She is given the new codename Philomen. Father Alesche is cleared for contact by London. Noor is transferred to Paris. On the train ride to her new assignment, the train is stopped and searched but another woman is discovered and arrested by the Nazis. Virginia continues to excel in supplying agents passing through Lyon. She discovers a Nazi supply line and works to blow up the train in transport. Noor tries to relocate to a new safehouse but a collaborator is arrested just as she arrives and she is advised to leave by the prostitutes there. Noor hides among the graves but goes missing when the Northern Circuit in Paris is infiltrated. Virginia joins Alfonse, Agent Paul (Rob Heaps), and George (Jean Brassard), a local mechanic, in placing explosives on the track. The police capture George and their wireless communications case. The remaining conspirators devise a plan to get George a wrench in a care package so he could pick the prison lock and escape. Isabella (Juliana Sass) delivers the Monopoly game, but must play it with the guards before it is turned over to the prisoners who use the wrench to escape. As the group seeks to take the escapees to the abbey, there are stopped by a Vichy policeman who holds them at gunpoint. They fight back and assassinate the officer and reach their destination to hide George and Paul. Noor finds an old friend named Giselle (Mathilde Ollivier) who agrees to hide her for a few days and she is able to contact London. She refuses to return home and willing to help rebuild the northern circuit. In November, 1942, the Nazi presence grows in Lyon. Klaus Barbie (Marc Rissmann) arrives and has a specific interest in tracking down Philomen. He instructs Father Robert Alesche who is a double agent, to find her. Dr. Chevain obtains one if the Nazi wanted posters for Virginia and tells her she must take the train south to escape. A short time later Chevain is arrested and tortured. Alphonse is caught and shot in the street. Virginia boards the train to Perpignon. Giselle's husband (Dániel Benedek) betrays Noor to the Nazis for money and Noor is arrested. The Nazis have her code book and begin transmitting as Madeline. When the transmission is received in Brittain, Leo Marks (Alistair Brammer), a wireless receiver, has suspicion that the transmission is not authentic because it is perfect. Buckmaster decides to go ahead with the parachute drop of agents at the coordinates the Nazis provided. Virginia is provided the location of a safehouse near the Spanish border before beginning a 35-mile trek across the mountains. In her perilous journey to Spain where she struggles with great pain in her leg. The replacement agents fall into the hands of the Gestapo. Noor is transported away from her imprisonment to a concentration camp in Dachau. Virginia, with the help of her guide, crosses the Pyrenees mountains into Spain. Virginia makes it back to England to meet with Buckmaster and Atkins. She criticizes the F section for failing to protect their agents and having too many agents assigned to a single wireless operator. She wishes to return to France but is denied because her identity is compromised. Vera is accused of being responsible for clearing Father Robert Alesche who proved to be a double agent. Vera demands her citizenship papers and proper rank. She feels discriminated against as being born a Jew. In January, 1944, Vera is finally recognized for her accomplishments with a uniform and her citizenship papers. She is called into a meeting with Buckmaster to teach their OSS counterparts by Wild Bill Donovan (Matt Salinger) their methods of spying and sabotage. Virginia now works as a wireless operator in Britain for the Americans. Atkins asks her to accompany her to deliver a letter the Noor;s mother that explains that Noor was a hero but was executed a concentration camp. Virginia is promoted in the OSS and sent back to France in advance of the Jedburgh teams to continue their mission. Vera, Virginia and Noor were all decorated with honors when the war concludes
Storyline
- In the beginning of WWII, with Britain becoming desperate, Churchill orders his new spy agency -- the Special Operations Executive (SOE) -- to recruit and train women as spies. Their daunting mission: conduct sabotage and build a resistance. SOE's "spymistress," Vera Atkins (Stana Katic), recruits two unusual candidates: Virginia Hall (Sarah Megan Thomas), an ambitious American with a wooden leg, and Noor Inayat Khan (Radhika Atpe), a Muslim pacifist. Together, these women help to undermine the Nazi regime in France, leaving an unmistakable legacy in their wake. Inspired by true stories. — Sarah Megan Thomas, author