Biutiful
User Score
6.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 52 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 52
  3. Negative: 9 out of 52

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  1. lizusa4444
    Dec 30, 2010
    9
    I loved this film. Javier Bardem's Uxbal is captivating. We follow him through what is the depths of misery for a father that has to leave his children behind and isn't prepared. The film is chock full of characters from different cultures trying to survive under the radar in Barcelona. Uxbal is the go-between for the city's fringe population while also serving as a go-between for families and their recently departed. He gently pushes souls toward the afterlife and helps those left behind to find closure (as a sideline, no less). I'm going to have to sit and think about all of the different symbolism in this film. There is a lot of it. It is a heavy, beautiful film. Perfect for 2 1/2 of getting out of yourself.… Expand
  2. FUNTALK
    Mar 27, 2011
    9
    The whole film starts with a night conversation of two in a room then at an unknown point of a mystical place where a dead owl lies on the ground of snow before the main title appears ; Biutiful has intend to provide the audiences the empathy into of what dreadful feeling one man in the underworld of Madrid could have sensed in his cracked wife,daughter and son with the accompanies of many - no matter if they're "dead" or" alive" - after all in his own weakening mind;For that strong arrangement of wry thing on lens,a successful one.… Expand
  3. DKay
    Feb 8, 2011
    9
    Javier Bardem knocks Uxbal's dying father/saint out of the park. His best role and work this side of NoCountryForOldMen. He's deserving of any acting award available, anytime. I left the theater shaken, stirred and overwhelmed; it helped that I'm a father (luckily I'm not dying though). Bardem's Uxbel is a dream role for every actor and with Alejandro González Iñárritu at the helm, a dreaem situation. Bardem has a conflicted,passionate director willing to let him "act" (work), and more importantly, willing to the let the actor take time to work. Half these critic idiots can't handle more than 30 seconds of silence (neither can 99% of America) but like Malick, AGI could care less about ADD audiences. Thank God he doesn't. Poetic, challenging and epically emotional, Biutiful is nothing less than its title: complicatedly beauitful.… Expand
  4. delusion
    Mar 3, 2011
    10
    This movie is absolutely great! It is touching and it is view into a real situation of immigrants, who struggle to survive in a horrific conditions. But it is not only that. There is also a story of domestic problems many people can identify with it. And there is a man caught in this situation, who wants to make things better for everyone, but unfortunately has his own war to fight - cancer. Movie makes you think. In addition to that, the cast is amazing, especially Javier Bardem who is a wonderful actor.… Expand
  5. mperezsimons
    Apr 17, 2011
    9
    Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu is known for his signature multi-protagonist plots introduced in his death trilogy, which included "Amores Perros," "21 Grams," and "Babel." In "Biutiful," however, he zooms in on one character, Uxbal, a single father from Barcelona, facing terminal cancer. Uxbal is a fascinating character with many good intentions that don't always translate into good deeds. While he truly cares for people (his brother even calls him the Dalai Lama), he actually makes a living from an operation where illegal Senegalese immigrants sell on the streets the counterfeited bags and pirated CDs produced in a sweatshop by a group of frightened Chinese who sleep on the floor of a locked basement.

    So yes, Uxbal is a complicated hero, not perfect by any means, but because of Bardem's earnest performance you feel Uxbal's pain, and he also wins you over with the love he so tenderly expresses for his soon-to-be fatherless children, and for the father he never met. And that's what the movie is truly about: parenthood, how people, no matter their nationality, are always concerned with giving their kids a better life. You'll find that most of the characters (from Uxbal, to the police officer, to the sweatshop owner, to the main Senegalese immigrant) are trying to do what's best for their kids. But are their choices moral or even legal? Morality is a big theme here, and the movie will leave you questioning even your own.

    To appreciate this film you need to understand Iñárritu's style--bold and bleak and confrontational. He wants to shock you, make you angry, remove you from your comfortable place so you can experience some of the realities millions of people face everyday. Allow him to. "Biutiful" is worth watching because of the many layers of the story, the stellar performances by Javier Bardem and Maricel à    … Expand
  6. DrTathata
    Jul 16, 2011
    10
    It was St Paul who claimed that the good that he would was not what he did, but the evil that he wouldn't. In a way, that true statement of the potential for error in the best of our intentions is the strange attractor that drives this beautiful, exquisitely painful story. Put yourself in the man Uxbal's shoes and ask yourself--what would it feel like to be intricately enmeshed such a complex web, and yet have so few moves available with which to solve your problem? "The Universe will take care of your children", he is told, and although it may be true, it is cold comfort for any dying parent whose last thoughts cluster around the question, what will become of them without my love and care? With all of his dying preoccupations rolled into one overwhelming question, the one person in his life capable of attending to his children when he is gone stands gazing at the flight departure list, her baby on her back, and every penny he owned in her bag-- what will she do, and why does she do it? What is it that drives the choice that she makes? Is it love? Is it duty? What does she owe this man? And why would she choose to deny everything she had longed for? Difficult questions, often without answers, abound. This is a thought provoking film, true and unflinchingly real in it's study of the characters involved. For the world as we find it is not black and white but infinite shades of light and dark, and it is rare that anyone is wholly good or wholly bad, or even wholly unsympathetic. And don't think you can always predict what someone will do, before they are put to the test. Depending on the perspective of the others in our lives, we are each of us both heros and villains in one way or another. In the final analysis, nobody gets out alive. You can't take it with you. All roads end in the grave. Life is a lesson about loss, and all striving is futile. The lucky ones who fight against the dying of the light think of those they love as their cares drop one by one from their cold dead fingers.… Expand
  7. Belmsher
    Sep 12, 2011
    10
    Bardem's performance is ABSOLUTELY haunting and that is more than enough to rate this 10. Another highlight: it shows a side of Barcelona most of the people who visit the city never thought of.
  8. Mrtruegrit2288
    Feb 12, 2012
    10
    The film is painful there's no doubt about about that but Inarritu's genius is it's ability to captivate, to grab on and not let go and to make you feel every moment of pain desperation. The cast is flawless, and Bardem is without a doubt, the single greatest actor that Spain has produced .

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
58 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 33
  3. Negative: 3 out of 33
  1. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    Feb 11, 2011
    75
    In this vast balloon of a film, Bardem is the ballast – that Manichean face is a movie onto itself.
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  2. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    Feb 4, 2011
    50
    It is raw, it is searing, it is honest.
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  3. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    Feb 3, 2011
    63
    The saving grace of Biutiful is Bardem.
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