The Forgiven

Name: The Forgiven
Genre: Drama
Released: July 1, 2022
Duration: 117 min
Rating: 59
Cast: Abbey Lee, Alex Jennings, Anas El Baz, Caleb Landry Jones, Christopher Abbott

2022

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Ratings

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4.4

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4.4	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Roadside Attractions | Release Date: July 1, 2022 | Not Rated

Starring: Abbey Lee, Alex Jennings, Anas El Baz, Caleb Landry Jones, Christopher Abbott, David McSavage, Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Ismael Kanater, Jessica Chastain, Marie-Josée Croze, Matt Smith, Mourad Zaoui, Ralph Fiennes, Saïd Taghmaoui

Summary: Speeding through the Moroccan desert to attend an old friend’s lavish weekend party, wealthy Londoners David and Jo Henninger (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) are involved in a tragic accident with a local teenage boy. Arriving late at the grand villa with the debauched party raging, the couple attempts to cover up the incident with theSpeeding through the Moroccan desert to attend an old friend’s lavish weekend party, wealthy Londoners David and Jo Henninger (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) are involved in a tragic accident with a local teenage boy. Arriving late at the grand villa with the debauched party raging, the couple attempts to cover up the incident with the collusion of the local police. But when the boy’s father arrives seeking justice, the stage is set for a tension-filled culture clash in which David and Jo must come to terms with their fateful act and its shattering consequences.… Expand

Director: John Michael McDonagh

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 117 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Kim Hughes

Jun 30, 2022

McDonagh’s sumptuous version of the novel —which premiered at TIFF last year — is utterly faithful and thus note perfect, capturing its resonant ruminations on social inequity, racism, and cultural tourism in a sweeping Moroccan desert Sheltering Sky novelist Paul Bowles would recognize. Read full review

IndieWire Ryan Lattanzio

Sep 14, 2021

While this nasty film seems headed toward a conclusion where the rich win and the status quo is maintained, that’s abruptly shattered by a violent climax that assures that no one on either side of the divide is left without a bloodstain. Read full review

Rex Reed

Jul 5, 2022

The Forgiven is not a journey every viewer will want to make, but it’s a rewarding experience to watch Ralph Fiennes play the emotional subtexts of such a complicated role with such power and nuance. Read full review

Manohla Dargis

Jun 30, 2022

Fiennes peels David in layers, unraveling this man until you see his hollow interior. Read full review

Collider Chase Hutchinson

Jul 1, 2022

Even with Fiennes and Chastain giving it their all in a manner that makes the story far more engaging than you would expect, they can’t carry it all on their own. The most ambitious and audacious performances in the world can’t overcome storytelling that is otherwise safe to the point of being timid. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Christy Lemire

Jul 1, 2022

McDonagh’s film is well-crafted throughout but ultimately has nothing fresh or insightful to say about the ugliness of white privilege. Read full review

Robert Daniels

Jul 1, 2022

While The Forgiven isn’t concerned with making David a better person — rather to get him to fully grasp his guilt — McDonagh’s methods can’t distinguish the film from the long list of stories about white folks learning lessons at the expense of brown people. There may have been higher ideals in mind, but “The Forgiven” fails to gracefully reach them. Read full review

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User Reviews

MickVV

Nov 27, 2022

Worth a watch for the performances and for the set designs. The story is a fairly standard redemption tale but it's a well done one.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

alanpotter17

Jun 2, 2023

Apesar de ser um filme meio arrastado, tem um trecho que engrena: entre a morte de um garoto por atropelamento e a visita forçada do motorista ao vilarejo para prestar-lhe condolências, ainda que tudo não soa nem um pouco orgânicos.
Convidados a passar uns dias de festa em pleno deserto doApesar de ser um filme meio arrastado, tem um trecho que engrena: entre a morte de um garoto por atropelamento e a visita forçada do motorista ao vilarejo para prestar-lhe condolências, ainda que tudo não soa nem um pouco orgânicos.
Convidados a passar uns dias de festa em pleno deserto do saara ao lado de vários ricaços, o casal vividos pelos ótimos Ralph Fiennes e Jéssica Chastain se vê em apuros dado atropelarem um garoto enquanto o homem dirigia bêbado ao local de encontro.
Por mais que a festa em si não seja o foco do filme, o fato da produção optar por um ambiente contido e nem um pouco caprichado, nos leva a questionar: mas que diabos eles foram fazer ali? Não há absolutamente nada que justifique tamanha missão em se deslocar tantos quilômetros para um ambiente com pessoas chetérrimas e sem muitos atrativos.
O grande barato do filme ficou por conta mesmo não apenas da atuação do casal principal, mas principalmente pelas tiradas sarcásticas envolvendo o choque cultural visto em tela: um inglês que decide manter a pose, uma mulher que claramente está entediada do casamento, e um crime que lhe atormenta. Evitando o envolvimento policial, ele decide fazer o que o pai do jovem marroquino está disposto a lhe cobrar, e ao menos o suspense para que ele vá até a cidade natal do garoto para enterrar o corpo e participar do ritual fúnebre vai sustentando o tempo em tela.
Fora isso, os personagens secundários vão interagindo com um humor tipicamente britânico, e temos desde os anfitriões homossexuais ao affair da mulher que vai despertando-lhe uma série de desejos, e que acompanhamos até com curiosidade, dado, repito, o talento dos personagens principais.
Mas fora essa explosão de multiculturalismo a desafiar as identidades dos indivíduos num resort a 40º graus, não resta ao filme muita coisa, mesmo porque sua projeção é burocrática e apenas razoável. É um filme para ver, dar algumas risadas, e esquecer logo em seguida.… Expand

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TVJerry

Jul 8, 2022

Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain play a rich couple on the way to a lavish bash in the Moroccan desert, when they accidentally hit a local boy with their car. The repercussions involve an atonement trip thru the barren countryside for him, while she lives it up at the party The story'sRalph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain play a rich couple on the way to a lavish bash in the Moroccan desert, when they accidentally hit a local boy with their car. The repercussions involve an atonement trip thru the barren countryside for him, while she lives it up at the party The story's developments are relatively simple and even the ending isn't a surprise. What stands out are the quiet observations around the decadence of the rich white crowd contrasted against the solemn disdain of the locals, many of whom are in serving capacity. Fiennes' character starts uncompromisingly dismissive and heartless, but his transformation is abrupt. Chastain relishes looking being gorgeous and self-indulgent. While the setting presents an interesting contrast, the story never gets to any genuine catharsis or even real dramatic heft.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Mauro_Lanari

Sep 20, 2022

(Mauro Lanari)
Why title it "The Forgiven" when it tells of a path of inner change of the only character with a leftist past that flows into atonement as the acceptance of revenge? Why critique the dark side of the western white elite as if moral degradation (Gide's book) were its exclusive(Mauro Lanari)
Why title it "The Forgiven" when it tells of a path of inner change of the only character with a leftist past that flows into atonement as the acceptance of revenge? Why critique the dark side of the western white elite as if moral degradation (Gide's book) were its exclusive and not a feature of poor and Arab humanity as well? Are you looking for self-absolving scapegoats?… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

KenR

Feb 22, 2023

The Forgiven – Or Are They? It’s difficult to know what writer/director (John Michael McDonough) was trying to convey with this production. It’s about a group of highly unlikeable (in fact totally despicable) privileged whites, gathering together for a grossly decadent ‘party’ in a mostThe Forgiven – Or Are They? It’s difficult to know what writer/director (John Michael McDonough) was trying to convey with this production. It’s about a group of highly unlikeable (in fact totally despicable) privileged whites, gathering together for a grossly decadent ‘party’ in a most unlikely place...an isolated semi-palace in the middle of the Moroccan desert. With scant knowledge about the hosts or their guests, we are simply expected to put up with their all too obviously unsubtle vulgar language and generally vile behavior, as they settle into a weekend of grotty debauchery. Drugs, booze, and sex are all part of the sleaze on offer while being attended to by local Moroccan servants -- all who seem to view their employers and guests as worthless rubbish-- which the filmmakers go out of their way to demonstrate. The activities of these privileged whites are served up as gross sensationalism that’s bent toward manipulating our view of them as worthless - while all the Muslim servants are presented as angelic – that alone is conjuring up a theme of deliberate racial hatred for little reason other than the sake of it. Is this the sole point of this movie; is there nothing of any other purpose here? At one point a local teenager is killed in a somewhat careless accident, this produces the film’s best segment. The father of the boy (played with intensity by Ismael Kanater) requests the perpetrator to go with him while he buries his son, causing much anxiety, but the outcome of this can only be viewed as somewhat peculiar in the extreme. This could have been a modern classic with a more rounded and balanced script. The visual quality is evident and the cast clearly hand-picked, there’s an effective atmospheric music score courtesy of Lorne Balfe but how much of Lawrence Osborne’s novel remains within the screenplay? (seems to have serious omissions) If the object of this project was to generate hatred for whites, it’s done its dirty job but will this help any of the world's social relationships heal? I doubt it very much. Best Quote: from a Moroccan servant after witnessing a blatant act of adultery by a female guest; "A woman with no discretion is like a gold ring through a pigs snout” (no, not Moroccan wisdom, as this pic would have you believe but Proverbs 11:22.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Drackemoor

Jul 20, 2022

Another one of the 'white people bad' movies that lately flush cinemas and TV screens. Not worth watching.

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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