A thriller that falls a bit short

Tom Jericho, Dougray Scott, is a brilliant mathematician who works as a code-breaker at Bletchley Park, a top secret World War II facility. Jericho has had an affair with fellow worker Claire Romilly, Saffron Burrows, and when she ended their relationship he had a breakdown. Now he`s back at work, but Claire has mysteriously disappeared. While Jericho and Claire`s room-mate, Hester, Kate Winslet, try to solve the mystery of her disappearance, MI5 agent Wigram, Jeremy Northam, becomes increasingly suspicious. The combination of director Michael Apted and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, plus a fascinating wartime spy story, should have added up to a more interesting film than Enigma. For a while, the intriguing backdrop of the code breaking centre, the desperate attempts to break a new German code before a convoy of merchant ships is destroyed by U-boats, and the mysterious disappearance of the seductive Claire look like the basics for a pretty good thriller. But something`s not right - perhaps it`s the casting of Dougray Scott, the most dour, uncharismatic hero imaginable, or perhaps it`s the unlikeliness of the Jeremy Northam character - did MI5 officers really dress so well during the war? But mainly it`s the murky plotting and the disappointing denoument which, though it might have its basis in fact, is a bit too convoluted. The film`s biggest asset is Kate Winslet, lovely as the rather Hitchcockian heroine, a jolly English girl who exhibits unexpected talents as a detective.