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Man Who Cried, The
Universal Focus


7.4

based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 17 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for sexuality

Starring Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Johnny Depp, and Harry Dean Stanton

A girl whose name and language are taken away, who loses everything and everyone she loves and is driven into silence, nevertheless finds a singing voice and finally manages to find her long lost father. (Universal Focus)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Sally Potter (also story)
DIRECTED BY:	Sally Potter
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 2, 2002 Video: January 2, 2002 Theatrical: May 25, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	97 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / France

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...

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This is an amazingly ambitious movie, not so much because of the time and space it covers (a lot), but because Potter trusts us to follow her heroine through one damn thing after another.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It feels both big and little, concentrating as it does on the small movements in people's lives and the huge tides of history.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Melodramatic and strangely moving.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Though the film falls short of its aspirations, there's something magical about it. It's a poetic look at transience, betrayal, loss and doom.

USA Today Andy Seiler

A curious but intriguing movie that leaves you bemused and more than a little confused.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Ricci brings her trademark gravity to the wary Suzie, but Blanchett's role is the dazzler.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's a strange and strangely unaffecting little drama -- but played very flat, with no particular emotional impact sought or achieved.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The imagery is lush, but the story is pretty cornball, with an ending that can only be called pure Hollywood. Only the marvelous Cate Blanchett transcends stereotype.

Film.com Tom Keogh

While we may like what we see, it's impossible to comprehend what much of it means or why we should care.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

There's nothing particularly wrong with this whole setup; it's just very by-the-numbers.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

There's only one performer in the movie who looks completely at ease with what he's doing: the horse.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

It's hard to be drawn into a movie if you're never entirely sure what it's supposed to be about, other than about 100 minutes.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A thing of beauty. But then so is a cloud and I wouldn't want to stare at one of those for an hour and half.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The Man Who Cried is like a Yiddish generational tearjerker told from the perspective of the lost child rather than that of the bereaved parent.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Potter gets the period details right, but the film itself has long since flown off the rails, miring good intentions in rank soap opera.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

It's a thinly disguised lecture about intolerance, spotted with historical inaccuracies and groaning with dialogue so dreadful that it makes a fine cast look ridiculous again and again.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The result is a movie that talks big, even walks big, but has no scale whatsoever.

Variety Deborah Young

Sally Potter, who leapt to critical attention with her 1992 adaptation of Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" -- makes a serious misstep with The Man Who Cried.

Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart

There is even less going on between Ricci and Depp here than there was in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," mostly because Potter gives them nothing to play.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The driving drama of such a desperate situation is lost in the movie's casting silliness.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

A star ensemble is preposterously miscast.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

The film's a vacuous bore.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Pat C. gave it a3:
An important story, but it's told without craftsmanship and contains characters without personality nuances. The plot continuity has holes you could drive a truck through. Not even Blanchett, inexplicably mis-cast, can save this one.

Hazel C. gave it a 10:
This movie makes people more sensitive, and i think christina ricci has an impressive performance.

Hiro S. gave it a 9:
The conbination of Jonny Depp and Christina Ricci makes a special atmosphare which is express deep saddness with attachment for tribes, family and profound culture. People who experienced any king subtle discrimination from others would understand the theme of the movie. No matter jew, Indian, Orientals, people bearing a kind of woe of discrimination.

Maryann gave it a 10:
Was this movie played in the USA at all? Loved it got it for christmas.

Rachel K. gave it a 9:
[***SPOILERS***] I really liked this movie. johnny depp was awesome, but i think that no matter what. i do agree that his character was rather underdeveloped, but oh well. i think the title could have been better, he cries in one little scene. i didn't like that depp screwed ricci before he'd even kissed her, and my friend spent a lot of time wondering how the sex on the chair would work. i personally think that she should have stayed with depp, when she went to america and met her father, he had a new life completely without her. i don't think his wife and children would have welcomed her into the family, but i think depp's family would have. anyway, i liked the movie, but there were things that could have been better.

Gokmen balat gave it a 10:
This is perfect movie... Very romantic...

Kay gave it a 9:
I thought that this was a beautiful and emotionally deep film. the comparison of money and fame but unhappiness to true love but poverty was unbelievable. the best part of the story (in my opinion) is following the the love intrest part of the movie. the characters of johnny depp and christina ricci go through an amazing bond of love and fight through discrimination and war. this film left me sobbing in tears by the end and im sure it will for any other hopeless romantic.

Man Who Cried, The Universal Focus

Man Who Cried, The
Universal Focus