Are audiences ready for a sympathetic portrait of German authority during the dawn of WWII? “The Exception” believes so, striving to mix sex and contemplation during a hostile time in European history, searching for the nuanced psychology of those participating in, or at least confronted by, a horrific change in wartime atrocities. Director David Leveaux leans toward sensuality to help ease the audience into a challenging plot, finding some success with raw feelings and urges. But the overall feel of “The Exception” isn’t defined to satisfaction, stuck between the demands of its literary origins (based on the book “The Kaiser’s Last Kiss,” by Alan Judd) and its slightly veiled desire to become a wartime melodrama, with hunky Nazis, conflicted women, and a raving old man. It’s a passably engaging film, but anyone expecting a serious deconstruction of Third Reich policies and complications of animal-like attraction aren’t likely to be enlightened by anything presented here. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com