Great Freedom

Name: Great Freedom
Genre: Drama
Released: March 4, 2022
Duration: 116 min
Rating: 89
Cast: Alfred Hartung, Andreas Patton, Anton von Lucke, Franz Rogowski, Georg Friedrich

2022

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Ratings

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6.0

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6.0	Your Score
6.0	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

MUBI | Release Date: March 4, 2022 | Unrated

Starring: Alfred Hartung, Andreas Patton, Anton von Lucke, Franz Rogowski, Georg Friedrich, Joachim Schönfeld, Johannes Cramer, Klaus Huhle, Thomas Prenn, Ulrich Faßnacht

Movie Facts:

Streaming on MUBI May 6, 2022.

Summary: In post-war Germany, liberation by the Allies does not mean freedom for everyone. Hans is imprisoned again and again under Paragraph 175, a law criminalizing homosexuality. Over the course of decades, he develops an unlikely yet tender bond with his cellmate Viktor, a convicted murderer.

Director: Sebastian Meise

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Unrated

Runtime: 116 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Michael O'Sullivan

Apr 20, 2022

Gradually, a story of bittersweet beauty and unexpected tenderness emerges. Read full review

100

Manohla Dargis

Mar 3, 2022

The director Sebastian Meise, who wrote the script with Thomas Reider, tells this story with open feeling and steady, emphatic calm. Read full review

IndieWire David Ehrlich

Mar 7, 2022

If Great Freedom is a subdued film more interested in studying old scar tissue than licking up fresh wounds, the rare instances when it draws blood . . . are all the more bruising as a result. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Matt Zoller Seitz

Mar 4, 2022

It's one of [Rogowski's] most moving and fully imagined performances, anchoring a drama that tries to do a bit too much for its own good in terms of structure. Read full review

Wendy Ide

Mar 12, 2022

The power of Sebastian Meise’s subdued prison drama comes not from big, brash moments but from subtle details. Sound design that hints at the aching emptiness outside the frame and beyond the walls. Read full review

Anna Smith

Mar 11, 2022

Austrian filmmaker Sebastian Meise manages to find romance amidst the dirty needles and dirty toilets, delivering as many memorable tender images as he does unpleasant ones. Read full review

The Playlist Gregory Ellwood

Oct 14, 2021

Despite a very frank and welcome illustration of gay sexuality rarely seen in modern media (in this manner at least), Greater Freedom continually teases us with storylines and subject matter by choosing to frame this era through a relationship that it cannot rationalize. Read full review

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User Reviews

reporterreporte

Jun 18, 2022

I understand if you don't want to read subtitles to watch the film, but I can recommend this German language films even you haven't watch any German films.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

jmart1963

Jun 16, 2022

An amazing and harrowing film. Life-changing experience for me. Rarely have I seen a film that explores the human condition like this film. I expected to see something depressing and emotionally draining. This was anything but.

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

alanpotter17

Nov 9, 2022

Great Freedom é visceral ao tratar da repressão sexual, dos desejos, dos sistemas de manipulação institucionais. Um prato cheio para os Foucaltianos discutirem a hipótese da repressão enquanto movimento criador de ações na microfísica do poder.
O filme consegue também se sair digno na parteGreat Freedom é visceral ao tratar da repressão sexual, dos desejos, dos sistemas de manipulação institucionais. Um prato cheio para os Foucaltianos discutirem a hipótese da repressão enquanto movimento criador de ações na microfísica do poder.
O filme consegue também se sair digno na parte técnica, e o roteiro não se torna piegas, mesmo que envolva um romance, já que não deixa de focar no aprisionamento proveniente das instituições. É muito bom!… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

bertobellamy

Mar 4, 2022

'Great Freedom' is a devastating portrait of love being born in the most unexpected of places. Sebastian Meise delivers a time-hopping story about a man imprisoned during different occasions in post-war Germany because of his "perverted" sexual preferences. If you've ever wondered what'Great Freedom' is a devastating portrait of love being born in the most unexpected of places. Sebastian Meise delivers a time-hopping story about a man imprisoned during different occasions in post-war Germany because of his "perverted" sexual preferences. If you've ever wondered what happened to gay men liberated from concentration camps, then this will give you a very cruel answer. With the masterful performances of Franz Rogowski and Georg Friedrich, 'Great Freedom' meditates about the effects of imprisonment and the always elusive search for meaning in people that feel like outsiders after a lifetime behind bars.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

JLuis_001

Nov 12, 2022

Imagine being imprisoned immediately after being released from a concentration camp. In the former for being Jewish and in the latter because you are homosexual. What could have run amok in a manipulative drama becomes an excellent feature that handles with delicacy but at the same timeImagine being imprisoned immediately after being released from a concentration camp. In the former for being Jewish and in the latter because you are homosexual. What could have run amok in a manipulative drama becomes an excellent feature that handles with delicacy but at the same time crudity an exploration of character that is much more complicated than it might first appear. Led by an exceptional Franz Rogowski who is becoming one of my favorite actors of the old continent, Great Freedom is a good movie but becomes a better one because of him.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Brent_Marchant

Apr 23, 2022

Life was once quite different for the LGBTQ+ community years ago. The mere act of engaging in same-sex relations was a criminal offense in many now-progressive countries, an activity punishable by branding offenders as perverts and landing them in prison for extended periods. One of thoseLife was once quite different for the LGBTQ+ community years ago. The mere act of engaging in same-sex relations was a criminal offense in many now-progressive countries, an activity punishable by branding offenders as perverts and landing them in prison for extended periods. One of those countries was West Germany, whose draconian measures even went so far as to transfer homosexuals liberated from concentration camp incarceration to state imprisonment after World War II. The harsh, prejudicial treatment experienced by West German gay men between 1945 and 1969, when the nation’s laws against homosexual conduct were finally abandoned, provides the basis for this prison drama/love story told in four segments about the lives of four inmates, three of them gay and one of them more than a little curious. Director Sebastian Meise’s second narrative feature presents an unflinching look at what gay men were up against during the time, when the simple act of loving someone of the same sex could have dire consequences, especially for the outspoken who believed one’s love life was none of the state’s business. Despite some occasional pacing issues (undoubtedly deliberate though at times frustrating in its attempt at conveying the tedium of prison life), this engaging and heartfelt drama makes its case without being preachy or heavy-handed and features fine performances by Franz Rogowski, Georg Friedrich, Thomas Prenn and Anton von Lucke, along with some inventive camera work. It’s indeed heartening to see how far we’ve come in the years since then, but “Great Freedom” reminds us of how far we’ve had to journey in getting there – and how there are those in this world who are still subjected to this kind of needless abuse.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

QLA1992

May 18, 2022

This movie is overwrought in its emotional manipulativeness and social preaching

2 of 5 users found this helpful23

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