Chicken with Plums

Name: Chicken with Plums
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: August 17, 2012
Duration: 93 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Edouard Baer, Golshifteh Farahani, Maria de Medeiros, Mathieu Amalric

2012

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Ratings

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7.2

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7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Ratings

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Chicken With Plums

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Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: August 17, 2012 | PG-13

Starring: Edouard Baer, Golshifteh Farahani, Maria de Medeiros, Mathieu Amalric

Summary: Teheran, 1958. Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death. As he hopes for its arrival, he plunges into deep reveries, with dreams as melancholic as they areTeheran, 1958. Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death. As he hopes for its arrival, he plunges into deep reveries, with dreams as melancholic as they are joyous, taking him back to his youth and even to a conversation with Azraël, the Angel of Death, who reveals the future of his children. As pieces of the puzzle gradually fit together, the poignant secret of his life comes to light: a story of love which inspired his genius and his music. (Sony Pictures Classics)… Expand

Director: Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 93 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

Aug 22, 2012

A grand, romantic life story about love, loss, regret and the sadness that can be evoked by a violin - not only through music, but through the instrument itself. It is all melancholy and loss, and delightfully comedic, with enough but not too much magic realism. The story as it stands could be the scenario for an opera. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Aug 22, 2012

Adapting Satrapi's graphic novel about a violinist (Mathieu Amalric) in late-1950s Tehran who's got a broken fiddle and a broken heart and takes to his bed, willing himself to die, the filmmakers rely on expressive eyes to carry a narrative style suitable for a silent movie. Read full review

Mary Pols

Aug 16, 2012

You have no idea what's coming next, except that it will be wildly creative and beautiful. These two know how to mix up a very unusual and successful cinematic recipe. Read full review

Elise Nakhnikian

Aug 4, 2012

A fable about the damage done when a young couple is forced to part, Chicken with Plums is deeply melancholic, yet so full of humor and humanity that it pulses with life even while tracing the trajectory of a slow suicide. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Sep 20, 2012

Fluctuating between the extraordinary and the dull, with sections of narrative explication and tangents, Chicken With Plums can be as frustrating as it is ambitious. It's more like Chicken With Plums – and the Kitchen Sink. Read full review

Chris Packham

Aug 14, 2012

The evocation of passionate love is palpable, what with Amalric's sad longing and Farahani's Nobel Prize–winning face and everything, and the honest undercurrent of melancholy keeps the whole thing from becoming unmoored. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Sep 6, 2012

An agony of bad plotting and whimsical, lifeless scenes. Read full review

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User Reviews

Lyn

Aug 12, 2014

A slight but lovely tale animated by touches of magical realism and the expressions on Mathieu Amalric's always interesting face. One might wish that he had more drama to work with -- and more interactions with actors of comparable magnetism. (See: the terrific "Jimmy P.," with Amalric andA slight but lovely tale animated by touches of magical realism and the expressions on Mathieu Amalric's always interesting face. One might wish that he had more drama to work with -- and more interactions with actors of comparable magnetism. (See: the terrific "Jimmy P.," with Amalric and Benicio Del Toro.) But I enjoyed the touches of exotic whimsy amid the familiar themes of love and loss.… Expand

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BovaMax

Feb 13, 2016

After the filmaker's first US release, I was hoping for a lot more than this maudlin soap opera. It is a beautiful film about an ugly, ugly man. Selfish, mean, angry, and unbearble; he is the definition of Artist as a Empty Shell. His sole saving grace is the actor who portrays him. What a waste.

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