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Derrida

EMAILPRINTZeitgeist Films

Derrida reviews
73
4.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 1 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by:

Directed by: Kirby Dick
Amy Ziering Kofman

Release Date:
Theatrical: October 23, 2002
DVD: January 20, 2004

Running Time: 85 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Language(s): English and French (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Jacques Derrida

This documentary examines one of the most visionary and influential thinkers of the 20th century, a man who single-handedly altered the way many of us look at history, language, art, and, ultimately, ourselves: the brilliant and iconoclastic French philosopher Jacques Derrida. (Zeitgeist Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90

LA Weekly Holly Willis

The result is fascinating, whether you're smitten by him or his work, or simply intrigued by contemporary thought.

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90

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

As the film takes shape, the form and the subject develop a fascinating symbiosis, with Derrida cast as an active participant in the deconstruction of his own documentary.

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80

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

An absolutely first-rate documentary.

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80

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

If you think 85 minutes devoted to a "difficult" French philosopher is bound to be either abstruse or watered-down middlebrow stuff, think again.

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80

Film Threat Tim Merrill

Even if you have no idea what French philosopher Jacques Derrida's theories are about, allow your mind the chance to be teased and twisted by the unique new documentary.

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80

Variety Dennis Harvey

An affectionate but aptly complex view of one of our epoch's great philosophers.

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80

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The adoring and adorable documentary on the philosopher Jacques Derrida.

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80

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Challenging and fascinating -- everything you didn't know you didn't know about Derrida's life and work.

80

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The movie is ultimately about the philosopher's personality -- if you loved "Lingua Franca" (and what lumpen academoid did not?), you'll certainly dig Derrida.

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75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The picture's charm lies in the continuing by-play between the filmmakers and their subject, with each side doing its best to deconstruct the other.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Nicely photographed and beautifully scored.

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75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The result puts a human face on Derrida, and makes one of the great minds of our times interesting and accessible to people who normally couldn't care less.

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75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Who would have guessed a documentary about Derrida, the great French philosopher of deconstruction and "différence," would be so entertaining?

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75

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The sort of film one should probably see either a half-dozen times or not at all. It's a complex, highly ambitious documentary that aptly reflects its subject, contemporary French philosopher Jacques Derrida.

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70

TV Guide Ken Fox

Overall, the filmmakers are a little too reverent -- it would have been interesting to hear Derrida respond to criticism leveled against deconstruction as an academic methodology -- but then again, they're not entirely in control here.

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67

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A charming but only partly satisfying portrait of its subject.

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20

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

For those unfamiliar with the notoriously camera-averse philosopher and his thoughts, Derrida will most probably prove to be an unenlightening bore.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 4.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

A. Zubatov gave it a 4:
Derrida, the man, acquits himself quite well, playfully engaging and teasing the filmmakers and managing to muster interesting, if not illuminating, answers to their inept questions. He is the highlight, however, because "Derrida," the film, leaves much to be desired. The direction itself is simply atrocious, making use of a roving camera that appears to be helpless and lost, interspersed with melodramatic and grandiose slow-motion shots in the worst tradition of "Rescue 911" reconstructions, complemented by out-of-place and laughably ominous sonic bleeps and whooshes to infuse the film with an air of affectation sufficient to embarrass even the most brazenly high-minded of Derrida's devotees. While such techniques are largely deployed in service of the tongue-in-cheek deconstructive gesture the filmmakers intend, the amateurish execution undermines their effort to the point where they would have been better off simply telling a straight story, even if it would have been far less faithful in spirit to one of the most evasive thinkers our civilization has produced.

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