Zelary

Name: Zelary
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: September 17, 2004
Duration: 150 min
Rating: 66
Cast: Anna Geislerová, György Cserhalmi, Ivan Trojan

2004

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Ratings

See All

7.5

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7.5	Your Score
7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Zelary

Now Playing: Zelary

Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: September 17, 2004 | R

Starring: Anna Geislerová, György Cserhalmi, Ivan Trojan

Summary: Set in the 1940s in the Czech lands occupied by the Nazis, Zelary tells the story of a clash between two different worlds and two different people. It is the story of an extraordinary relationship, of fear, misgivings, suspicion and especially of the love that forms out of antagonism. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Director: Ondrej Trojan

Genre(s): Drama, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 150 min

See All Details and Credits

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Eddie Cockrell

Managing to be at once epic and intimate, Zelary matches a resilient urban woman against a compassionate rural man in the spectacular Moravian countryside during World War II. Results rep a triumph of regional filmmaking, but in the David Lean tradition. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

It's a convincing romantic drama, written, directed and acted with so much skill it's able to break loose from its conventional moorings and become more effective, more moving than we anticipated. Read full review

Marc Savlov

By the time it's over you find yourself wondering why more films don't have the chutzpah to delve deeper into the battle-weary heart. Read full review

Desson Thomson

For fans of old-fashioned European filmmaking, this may have its pleasing qualities. Read full review

Sheri Linden

The story feels a bit more episodic as it proceeds, but for most of the two-hour running time it flows at an earthbound tempo, thanks to Trojan's assured, unobtrusive direction. Read full review

Marta Barber

As a war drama, Zelary is as gentle and pastoral as its setting. At times, you think it's a new chapter in "The Sound of Music." Read full review

David Ng

Zelary strands its protagonists in a hermetically sealed world where time runs in place. It's a feeling that viewers of this two-and-a-half-hour epic will come to know all too well. Read full review

SEE ALL 20 REVIEWS

Write a Review

Negative:

User Reviews

EdeltrudL.

Mar 25, 2006

moving, heartwarming, excellent acting.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

ErnstS.

Aug 28, 2005

Beautifully set in gorgeous Czech (actually Slovak) mountains, it helps one understand the violent WWII history that underlies the "Velvet Revolution" and continues as part of Europe's far less simplistic (than the US's) attitude toward the tensions, antagonisms and ironic twists Beautifully set in gorgeous Czech (actually Slovak) mountains, it helps one understand the violent WWII history that underlies the "Velvet Revolution" and continues as part of Europe's far less simplistic (than the US's) attitude toward the tensions, antagonisms and ironic twists of fate brought on by war. The sense of place and the potentialities of human grace are overwhelming.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

AmurabiM.

Jan 24, 2006

beautifully crafted, shot in gorgeous tones and with a pace that feels... sloooooow. zelary is just an exercise of intensive patience; beautifully tedious and boring. ¿is this a naturalistic story? ¿where´s the dramatic? it´s not a historic melodrama, nor an epic beautifully crafted, shot in gorgeous tones and with a pace that feels... sloooooow. zelary is just an exercise of intensive patience; beautifully tedious and boring. ¿is this a naturalistic story? ¿where´s the dramatic? it´s not a historic melodrama, nor an epic romance either. It´s just a complicated film that it feels like a novel, but not a good film.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

SEE ALL 3 REVIEWS