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Sophie's Choice

EMAILPRINTUniversal Pictures

Sophie's Choice reviews
67
10.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 8 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 1 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Art/Independent  |  Drama  |  Romance

Written by: Alan J. Pakula
William Styron (novel)

Directed by: Alan J. Pakula

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 8, 1982
DVD: April 21, 1998

Running Time: 150 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R

Starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol

Sophie (Streep) an Auschwitz survivor lives contently with Nathan (Kline). As Nathan becomes more unstable, she begins revealing her past to witer Stingo (MacNicol).

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

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Sophie's Choice is a fine, absorbing, wonderfully acted, heartbreaking movie.

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90

The New York Times Janet Maslin

Thanks in large part to Miss Streep's bravura performance, it's a film that casts a powerful, uninterrupted spell.

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75

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

Competently directed by Pakula and featuring gorgeous cinematography by Almendros, Sophie's Choice is an overlong, fairly schlocky film that takes itself very seriously.

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75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The overall result is a serious though harrowing journey into the dark corners of this century, marked by a compassionate approach and even a fillip of optimism at the end.

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75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott

The film is a respectable, claustrophobic and slick piece of work, and cinematographer Nestor Almendros' color strategies - Rembrandt-like light at night, lemony tones during the day, desaturated sepia at Auschwitz - are arty to a fault. [14 Dec 1982]

75

Boston Globe Michael Blowen

Alan Pakula's literal adaptation of William Styron's Sophie's Choice is an admirable, if reverential, movie that crams this triangle into a 2 1/2 -hour character study enriched by Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, and nearly destroyed by Peter MacNicol. [21 Jan 1983]

60

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

Sophie's Choice is a handsome, doggedly faithful and astoundingly tedious adaptation of William Styron's best-seller.

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20

Chicago Reader Dave Kehr

The picture is completely devoid of cinematic interest, adopting instead a tiresome theatrical aesthetic in which showy monologues are filmed in interminable, usually ill-chosen long takes.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes

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

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