The Imitation Game

2014 • 114 minutes

À propos de ce film

The Imitation Game is a dramatic portrayal of the life and work of one of Britain's most extraordinary unsung heroes, Alan Turing. Based on the real life story of Alan Turing (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), who is credited with cracking the German Enigma code, The Imitation Game portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team at Britain's top-secret code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II. Directed by Morten Tyldum (Headhunters) with a screenplay by Graham Moore, the film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance and Mark Strong.

Notes et avis

This is perfectly entertaining but reminds me of a big budget BBC TV film rather than a Hollywood movie. I felt it was quite simple and could have portrayed the relationship between Turing and Joan Clarke in a more sensitive and realistic way. She was a real person but they seem to have totally fictionalised her by getting Kiera Knightley to play her. We also never find out HOW the imitation game itself works, and we don't see large parts of the real history of the story, which would have been better. For example, they actually had 10 000 people working for them at Station X, including many eccentrics and boffins and a special way of delivering messages to to each other by hydraulic tubes! Still a good watch, but if you have read the blurb about this you learn nothing by watching the film. A more ambitious attempt at realism would have paid off.

The film was engaging and easy to follow. The Soviet spy angle was interesting. Cumberbatch's acting was good, including his accent. Having watched it once, I wouldn't watch it again - despite being sympathetic towards Turing and interested in the subject matter. It was no 'Beautiful Mind'.

A good film, but hugely inaccurate and simplistic. Cracking Enigma was not a solo effort, Turing did not have to fight "the system", nor was he disliked or dismissed. Not to mention the head start the whole project had from Poland where a simpler version of the code was cracked years before using a machine.