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Guinevere

EMAILPRINTMiramax Films

Guinevere reviews
68
6.4 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 5 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Romance

Written by: Audrey Wells

Directed by: Audrey Wells

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 24, 1999
DVD: March 14, 2000

Running Time: 104 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for strong language and sexuality

Starring Sarah Polley, Steven Rea, Jean Smart, and Gina Gershon

Harper Sloane (Polley), an affluent college graduate on her way to Harvard Law, meets a much older Bohemian photographer named Connie (Rea) at her sister's wedding. She moves in with Connie and mixes romance with her unorthodox education in the ways of photography.

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...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Disarms with its sincerity and frankness.

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91

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

This patient, perceptive, nonjudgmental love story about age difference is the first to convincingly explain the temporal physics of May-December romances.

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90

Variety Todd McCarthy

Wonderfully acted and slickly mad. Acutely written with an eye to the motivations and ambiguities involved on both sides in such a relationship.

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90

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Offers something magical in the haunting and hypnotic performance of Sarah Polley...(the film) cuts deep.

88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie's heart is in the right place.

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80

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Affecting, gloriously acted.

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80

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

As talented as Polley proved herself in "The Sweet Hereafter" and "Go," this is her best work yet.

80

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Affectionately told ...beguiling.

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75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

An enigmatic but gorgeous film.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

At the heart of the film, Polley - with her wary, unsure stares, her open smile and beguiling intelligence - is terrific.

75

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Should make Polley, memorable in "The Sweet Hereafter" and "Go," into a bona-fide star.

75

TNT RoughCut Morgan Fouch

Polley's doe-eyed innocence is in overdrive.

70

Dallas Observer Andy Klein

Rea hits just the right balance of sympathy and self-interest.

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63

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Polley, the paraplegic incest victim in Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter," gives a mesmerizing central performance.

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63

USA Today Mike Clark

The cumbersome wrap-up, which follows a four-year narrative gap, seems too fanciful and bogs down what has been a stronger second hour.

63

Chicago Tribune John Petrakis

A shy and depressed college graduate falls in love with a Bohemian artist, as in Woody Allen's "Manhattan."

63

Boston Globe Jay Carr

While the appeal of Guinevere is decidedly intermittent, it's there, and the acting is right on the money.

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60

Film.com Ernest Hardy

A good, though unremarkable, film.

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60

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Deftly mixes rueful sentimentality and trenchant observations about the constantly shifting balance of power that drives relationships.

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60

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

We have a right to yawn, but we don't, and Sarah Polley is the reason.

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50

Salon.com Charles Taylor

It doesn't take Rea long to decide that he's more interested in extending his record for Longest Acting Career Sustained on One Expression, and he's back to his baggy-eyed, hangdog look.

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50

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Implausibly dainty.

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50

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Bogs down during several fuzzily romantic interludes.

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50

Village Voice Amy Taubin

Except for Polley and Rea, the performances are heavy-handed.

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40

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Partly because the seducer's technique is methodical--as a former conquest explains to the naive heroine--the movie's answers are too easy.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes

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

Chad S. gave it a 7:
Surely there are female mentors that could inspire unformed women to blossom, but a film requires both teacher and student to fall in love. "Guinevere" doesn't want to be that edgy, but the premise that a young girl finds love outside her family with an older man, recalls the made-for-TV-movie about child exploitation, "Fallen Angel", in which both films feature the taking of nude photographs. But Connie, a creep in form, seems right for Harper, a girl who seems too matured for boys her own age, so we reserve our judgments about Connie within the context of his serial dating, but not when he's in the moment, dating Harper, and seemingly loving Harper.

Yoon Min C. gave it a 7:
For a movie about a photographer it sure lacks focus. In terms of character motivations and emotional resolutions we are left feeling fuzzy. Polley plays a rich girl who finds solace and excitement in a relationship with a bohemian photographer who's equal parts fraud and the real thing, as both artist and lover. Most of the movie plays the bohemian scene too cute, and the final part of the movie where their relationship falls apart is poorly constructed and so dissipate into blah. However, the role of Polley's mother is exquisitely played with well-measured refinement and venom; her humiliation of Rea's character is devastatingly written and performed. And, the scene near the end when 'Guinevere' leaves Rea, dejected and alone, in the hotel room and runs into the vast cold night is beautifully heartwrenching. I'm not sure whether this is semi-autobiographical; it was written and directed by Audrey Wells. But, if so the films gains from a degree of genuine involvment and loses by lack of proper distance between artist and the subject that might have lent it a more rational perspective.

Blanco A. gave it a 6:
Sarah Polley & Stephen Rea are terrific, as usual. But the film's pacing, especially toward end, is awkward.

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