The Imitation Game Gets A Riveting First Trailer

UPDATE: Two very different trailers, one for the U.K. and one for the U.S., have been released, and I’ve included both below.

One of the films I’m most excited to see this fall is The Imitation Game, a dramatic thriller starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, a British cryptographer who helped crack Nazi codes during World War II but was later prosecuted for homosexuality, then a crime. The subject matter is obviously fascinating, and Cumberbatch is a highly talented actor, so all signs indicate that The Imitation Game may arrive as one of the year’s best films. Now, a teaser trailer has been revealed by Studiocanal, giving us our first real look at the tense historical thriller.

As the trailer shows, Turing’s main challenge is deciphering the German Enigma code, considered by many to be unbreakable. To this end, he enlists the help of fellow code-breakr Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley) and others, only to find that his services to Great Britain may not be able to protect him once his personal life comes into the spotlight. It’s a thrilling and tantalizing first look at what I’ve predicted will be one of the year’s major awards players.

The Imitation Game opens on November 21st.

THE IMITATION GAME is a nail-biting race against time following Alan Turing (pioneer of modern-day computing and credited with cracking the German Enigma code) and his brilliant team at Britain’s top-secret code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II. Turing, whose contributions and genius significantly shortened the war, saving thousands of lives, was the eventual victim of an unenlightened British establishment, but his work and legacy live on.

THE IMITATION GAME stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, TV’s Sherlock) as Alan Turing and Keira Knightley (Atonement) as close friend and fellow code-breaker Joan Clarke, alongside a top notch cast including Matthew Goode (A Single Man), Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Rory Kinnear (Skyfall), Charles Dance (Gosford Park, TV’s Game of Thrones), Allen Leech (In Fear, TV’s Downton Abbey) and Matthew Beard (An Education).