Film

The Exception

Name: The Exception
Genre: War, Drama, Romance
Released: 2017
Cast: Lily James, Jai Courtney, Eddie Marsan, Christopher Plummer, Janet McTeer

Thriller

A tense 2017 WW2 thriller set in the Kaiser's secluded Dutch estate, where a German captain sent to investigate gets entangled in espionage, forbidden romance, and moral contradiction. It's deliberately paced, deeply ambiguous about who's deceiving whom, and built on the electric friction between duty and desire. For those who want intrigue over heroics.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a slow-burning romance wrapped in wartime intrigue, where the question of who is lying keeps the tension humming and the period costumes do much of the talking.

Skip it if you want a fast, action-driven war film, since this moves at a measured pace and its tension is conversational, built from rooms full of talk and glances.

What it asks of you: Runtime is about 107 minutes, and the romance arrives slowly, so it rewards attention to dialogue and small gestures more than to set-pieces.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Suite Française2015

A German officer and French pianist fall into dangerous passion amid occupation, with the same careful attention to how war corrodes morality and complicates the simplest feelings into life-or-death stakes.

But The pacing is deliberate and the romance unfolds slowly; some find it mournful rather than gripping, and the ending is bleak.

The Reader2008

Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet navigate a relationship shadowed by Nazi secrets and moral culpability, asking uncomfortable questions about complicity, love, and how well we can ever really know another person.

But It's introspective and frequently uncomfortable; the age gap and power dynamics in their relationship disturb rather than enchant, which is the point but not for everyone.

Bridge of Spies2015

Spielberg's spy thriller trades action for atmosphere, following a lawyer negotiating across Cold War lines. It has The Exception's patient, suspicious tone—everyone smiling while calculating how to betray you.

But There's minimal violence and maximum talking; if you want spectacle, this is surveillance and handshakes instead.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Exception

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Overlord2018

Both use WWII not as history but as a contained space for examining how institutions dehumanise and how ordinary soldiers become complicit in the unthinkable.

A horror-war hybrid: American soldiers drop into occupied France to sabotage a Nazi facility, only to discover supernatural experiments. It's genuinely propulsive where The Exception is glacial, but both explore bodies as weapons and Nazi ideology as literally monstrous.

But It's schlocky and gruesome; if you want subtlety, watching soldiers get graphically mutated will feel like trash cinema.

The Lives of Others2006

A Stasi agent monitoring a playwright becomes morally awakened by what he hears, exploring how surveillance, loyalty, and conscience collide. It shares The Exception's interest in men trapped between orders and ethics.

But It's austere and bleak; redemption is partial and painful, which is honest but not cathartic. The Cold War setting may feel distant.

In Darkness2011

A Polish sewer worker hides Jews during the Holocaust while wrestling his own prejudice and survival. It's morally knotted like The Exception, refusing easy heroism or villainy.

But It's visually grim, sometimes literally underground, and the moral compromises made by the protagonist sit uneasily. Some find it too bleak to end well.

Stolz der Nation2009

Tarantino's WW2 fantasy features a charismatic German officer (Michael Fassbender) charming and deceiving, set in a world where nothing is stable and every conversation is a power play.

But It's pulpy, violent, and increasingly absurd; if you want gritty realism, this stylised revenge fantasy will feel insulting.

The Pianist2002

Adrien Brody's Polish Jewish pianist survives through a chain of encounters with German officers—each one human, contradictory, and impossible to predict. War as arbitrary moral chaos.

But Brutally graphic and emotionally punishing; watching casual cruelty and starvation is not entertainment, even when the film is a masterpiece.

Mank2020

Black-and-white, 1940s Hollywood: a man caught between power, ideology, and personal ambition in a corrupt system. It shares The Exception's fascination with clever people deceiving one another behind closed doors.

But It's about screenwriting and politics, not action; if you don't care about old Hollywood, the conversations feel airless and self-involved.

The Constant Gardener2005

A diplomat's husband investigates his wife's murder and discovers a web of corporate deceit and geopolitical betrayal. Like The Exception, it's about slowly learning that institutions corrupt individuals.

But The jumping timeline is disorienting; the emotional payoff depends on caring about characters introduced in fragments, which not everyone does.

A Prophet2009

Both follow men caught in hierarchical systems beyond their control, watching themselves compromise incrementally until they no longer recognise their own choices.

A young man enters prison and rises through violence and manipulation, becoming something he didn't intend. It's not set in war, but it's about how closed systems corrupt, how you can't love your way out, and how power corrupts from the inside.

But It's a French prison drama, not historical; if you want WWII context, you won't find it. It's also brutal and morally exhausting.