The Exception

The Exception (2017) is David Leveaux's wartime romance, available to watch online on iFILM. In occupied Holland at the start of the 1940s, a Wehrmacht officer is posted to guard the villa of the deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II and walks straight into a tangle of espionage and forbidden desire.

Captain Brandt is ordered to root out a Resistance agent hiding inside the exiled monarch's household. Suspicion settles on the new maid, Mieke, a young Jewish woman played by Lily James. Their affair is dangerous for both: he wears the SS uniform, she guards a secret, and Himmler is about to arrive at the estate. Christopher Plummer, in one of his last great roles, plays the aging Kaiser sulking out his days, and he alone is reason enough to watch.

Adapted from Alan Judd's novel, this chamber piece trades on the contrast between a cozy mansion and the war closing in around it. There are no battle scenes here; everything rides on glances, half-truths, and a hard moral choice. A solid pick for anyone who favors restrained period thrillers carried by their cast. Stream The Exception (2017) online on iFILM.