# Allied (film)
**Allied** is a 2016 World War II romantic thriller directed by [Robert Zemeckis](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-zemeckis), written by [Steven Knight](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-knight), and starring [Brad Pitt](https://www.edgepedia.org/brad-pitt) as Canadian intelligence officer Max Vatan and Marion Cotillard as French Resistance fighter Marianne Beauséjour. The two operatives fall in love during a 1942 mission in Casablanca, marry in London, and their marriage is destroyed when Max is told his wife may be a German spy and he has 72 hours to prove her innocence or execute her himself.[1](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/allied) • [2](https://theweek.com/79086/how-accurate-is-allied-true-story-behind-wwii-movie) Paramount Pictures released the film in United States theaters on November 23, 2016.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Robert Zemeckis; screenplay by Steven Knight[1](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/allied) |
| Leads | Brad Pitt (Max Vatan), Marion Cotillard (Marianne Beauséjour)[4](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/allied/umc.cmc.fozkosmljavf2s00lctkpu3y) |
| Setting | Casablanca in 1942 under German occupation, then wartime London[5](https://www.timeout.com/movies/allied) |
| Release | November 23, 2016 (US, wide); streaming February 14, 2017[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied) |
| Runtime / rating | 124 minutes; rated R for violence, some sexuality/nudity, language, and brief drug use[1](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/allied) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied) |
| Box office | $39.8 million gross in the United States[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied) |
| Reception | 60% on the Tomatometer (255 reviews); Metascore 60 from 44 reviews; 7.1/10 on IMDb[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3640424/criticreviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
In 1942, Max Vatan, a Canadian intelligence officer, parachutes into French Morocco and meets Marianne Beauséjour, a [French Resistance](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-resistance) fighter assigned to pose as his wife and ease his assimilation into Vichy high society while he prepares to assassinate the German ambassador.[5](https://www.timeout.com/movies/allied) The two fall in love during the mission, and after it succeeds Max invites Marianne to return to London and become his wife in fact rather than pretense.[5](https://www.timeout.com/movies/allied)
Reunited in London, they marry and have a child, but their happiness is short-lived. British intelligence informs Max that Marianne may have been a German spy all along, and he is given 72 hours to prove her innocence before he must, in the studio's words, "do the unthinkable."[1](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/allied) Suspicion and danger envelop the marriage as husband and wife are pitted against each other in an escalating, potentially lethal test with global consequences.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied)
## Origin of the story
Unlike films adapted from researched books, the story came to Steven Knight, the British screenwriter who also wrote *Dirty Pretty Things* and *Eastern Promises* and created the television series *Peaky Blinders*, from a chance conversation. Working in Texas roughly 30 years before the film's release, he heard a friend's auntie describe how her brother had served in the [Special Operations Executive](https://www.edgepedia.org/special-operations-executive) (SOE), the British sabotage and espionage organization, behind enemy lines, gotten a French resistor pregnant, later learned she was a spy, and ended up killing her. Knight wrote that the story was told "from a place of deep emotion, a painful memory being shared," but he has never been able to verify it or find any reference to such events in books about the SOE.[7](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-accurate-movie-allied-180961206/)
Knight's research for the film found that it is believed the Germans never breached British security on its home turf during the war, which makes the film's central premise a fictional scenario rather than a documented case. He has argued that "historical accuracy" in filmmaking is often more about being accurate to what historians have written than to events themselves.[2](https://theweek.com/79086/how-accurate-is-allied-true-story-behind-wwii-movie)
## Relationship to Casablanca
The film is a deliberate homage to *Casablanca* (1942). Its entire first act takes place in [Casablanca](https://www.edgepedia.org/casablanca) itself, and it is filled with nostalgic nods to the earlier film, including a glamorous nightclub (though not Rick's Café Américain), a bustling marketplace, and a star-crossed wartime romance.[8](https://www.filmindependent.org/blog/old-v-new-evoking-classic-hollywood-allied-casablanca/) Reviewers also noted its kinship with [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-hitchcock)'s *[Notorious](https://www.edgepedia.org/notorious-1946-film)* and with the Bogart and Bergman tradition of wartime melodrama.[7](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-accurate-movie-allied-180961206/) • [9](https://time.com/4577019/allied-movie-review/)
The period look was largely manufactured. The opening desert scene, in which Pitt's character emerges against the sand dunes after landing in Morocco, was shot on a special set built to allow elaborate visual-effects enhancements, and footprints were sculpted directly into the dunes. Time's review described the film's Casablanca and London as "clearly false, highly movie-fied worlds" created with modern technology to evoke the feeling of old Hollywood.[9](https://time.com/4577019/allied-movie-review/)
## Cast and production
Brad Pitt and [Marion Cotillard](https://www.edgepedia.org/marion-cotillard) head the cast, with [Jared Harris](https://www.edgepedia.org/jared-harris) as Frank Heslop, Lizzy Caplan as Bridget Vatan, Simon McBurney as an S.O.E. official, and August Diehl among the supporting roles.[4](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/allied/umc.cmc.fozkosmljavf2s00lctkpu3y) • [1](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/allied) Zemeckis also produced with Graham King and Steve Starkey; the score is by [Alan Silvestri](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-silvestri) and the cinematography by Don Burgess.[1](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/allied) • [10](https://thecritics.uk/film/allied) Production companies included ImageMovers, Paramount Pictures International, and GK Films.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 60% Tomatometer from 255 reviews, with the critics' consensus saying it "has its moments, but doesn't quite achieve epic wartime romance status," and a 64% audience score from more than 25,000 ratings.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied) Metacritic assigned a metascore of 60 based on 44 reviews.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3640424/criticreviews/) Reviews ranged widely: the *Observer* gave it 10/10, praising "two titanic star performances," while *The Guardian* and *The Hollywood Reporter* gave it 4/10, the latter calling it "plodding and pedestrian."[10](https://thecritics.uk/film/allied) The film grossed $39.8 million in the United States.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied)
## References
1. [Allied, Paramount Pictures](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/allied)
2. [How accurate is Allied? True story behind WWII movie, The Week](https://theweek.com/79086/how-accurate-is-allied-true-story-behind-wwii-movie)
3. [Allied, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/allied)
4. [Allied, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/allied/umc.cmc.fozkosmljavf2s00lctkpu3y)
5. [Allied review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/allied)
6. [Allied (2016) Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3640424/criticreviews/)
7. [How Accurate Is the Movie "Allied"?, Smithsonian Magazine](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-accurate-movie-allied-180961206/)
8. [Old v. New: Evoking Classic Hollywood in 'Allied' and 'Casablanca', Film Independent](https://www.filmindependent.org/blog/old-v-new-evoking-classic-hollywood-allied-casablanca/)
9. [Review: With Allied, the Old-School Wartime Melodrama Enters the Modern Age, TIME](https://time.com/4577019/allied-movie-review/)
10. [Allied (2016): 39 reviews, The Critics](https://thecritics.uk/film/allied)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › War thrillers and spy films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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